1 - Desert Magazine of the Southwest

Burro Prospector...
"This old prospector was camped
out in the Verde River country near
Quartz Mountain, north of Phoenix,
and it looked as if there was going
to be a beautiful sunset so I asked
him if he would pack up his outfit
and pose with his burro for a picture.
This is the result." That is how R. T.
Payne of Pinetop, Arizona, describes
the taking of this month's first prize
winning photo. Camera data: 4x5
Bush Press Camera; pancro press
type B film with red filter; 1/25 sec.
at f. 22.
"Octopus" Saguaro . . .
The twisted arms of this Saguaro
cactus growing north of Scottsdale,
Arizona, reminded Ryan O'Brien of
Phoenix of an octopus, and he recorded
the impression on film—this
month's second prize winner. O'Brien
shot the picture on Panatomic X film
with light yellow filter, 1/25 sec. at
f. 14.
DESERT MAGAZINE

DESERT CfllLEnBBR
August 1-3—Burro Race, Apple Valley
to Big Bear Lake, California.
August 2—Old Pecos Dance, Jemez
Pueblo, New Mexico.
August 2-4—Rough Riders and Cowboys'
Reunion, Las Vegas, N.M.
August 3 — Smoki Dances, Prescott,
Arizona. (See page 11).
August 3-4—Billy the Kid Pageant,
Lincoln, New Mexico.
August 3-4—Horse Show and Gymkhana,
Pine Valley, California.
August 3-September 15 — Hubbell
Collection (Indian Portraits), Museum
of Northern Arizona, Flagstaff.
August 4—Corn Dance, Santo Domingo
Pueblo, New Mexico.
August 7-10—Harvest Days, Midvale,
Utah.
August 8-10—Black Diamond Stampede,
Price, Utah.
August 8-11 — Inter-Tribal Indian
Ceremonial, Gallup, New Mexico
(See back cover).
August 9-10 — Northern Arizona
Square Dance Festival, Flagstaff.
August 10 — Western Saddle Club
Gymkhana, Phoenix.
August 10—Fiesta de San Lorenzo,
Pfcuris, Laguna and Acoma pueblos,
New Mexico.
August 10-11 — State Championship
Cutting Horse Contest, Santa Rosa,
New Mexico.
August 12—Annual Fiesta and Corn
Dance, Santa Clara Pueblo, N.M.
August 13-15—72nd Annual Rodeo,
Payson, Arizona.
August 14-17—V-J Day Rodeo, Artesia,
New Mexico.
August 15—Assumption Day Fiesta
and Corn Dance, Zia Pueblo, N.M.
August 15-17—County Fair and Rodeo,
Logan, Utah.
August 16-18—Horse Show, Santa Fe.
August 17 — Barber Shop Quartet
Association Harmony Jamboree,
Prescott, Arizona.
August 17-25 — Pony Express Days
and Nevada Fair of Industry, Ely.
August 18—Tour to Gran Quivira,
from Alamogordo, New Mexico.
August 22-24—Annual Fiesta, Holbrook,
Arizona.
August 24—South Phoenix, Arizona,
Riding Club Gymkhana.
August 24 — Becker Lake Regatta,
Springerville, Arizona.
August 28—San Augustin Fiesta and
Dance, Isleta Pueblo, New Mexico.
August 29-30 — County Fair, Duchesne,
Utah.
August 30-September 2 — Annual
Fiesta, Santa Fe.
August 30-September 2—County Fair,
Elko, Nevada.
August 31-September 2 — Mohave
County Fair and Elks Rodeo,
Kingman, Arizona.
August 31-September 2—Kids' Rodeo,
Cloudcroft, New Mexico.
August 31-September 2—Nevada Rodeo,
Winnemucca.
August 31-September 2—Rodeo, Fallon,
Nevada.
Late August—Hopi Snake Dances at
Walpi and Mishongnovi, Arizona.
(See page 29.)
AUGUST, 1957
Volume 20 AUGUST, 1957 Number 8
COVER
PHOTOGRAPHY
CALENDAR
INDIANS
POETRY
GARDENING
FICTION
CEREMONIAL
CONTEST
TRUE OR FALSE
WATERHOLE
EXPLORATION
EXPERIENCE
LETTERS
HISTORY
PERSONALITY
NATURE
CLOSE-UPS
NEWS
MINING
LAPIDARY
HOBBY
COMMENT
BOOKS
INDIANS
"Mike" and Harry Goulding of Monument Valley
(see story on page 4) By JOSEF MUENCH
Pictures of the Month 2
August events on the desert 3
With Harry Goulding in Mystery Valley
By RANDALL, HENDERSON 4
The Cholla's Deceit and other poems . . . . 8
Red Blossoms in Your Desert Garden
By TED HUTCHISON 9
Hard Rock Shorty of Death Valley 10
When the Smokis Dance at Prescott
By THOMAS B. LESURE 11
Picture-of-the-Month Contest announcement . . 12
A test of your desert knowledge 14
Yaqui Well, by WALTER FORD 16
We Found a Way into an Ancient Cliffhouse
By JOYCE ROCKWOOD MUENCH . . . . 17
Prayer Stick Vengeance, by D. D. SHARP . . 21
Comment from Desert's readers 22
Mission San Xavier
By JOSEF and JOYCE MUENCH 23
She Paints With Gem Stones
By NELL MURBARGER 24
Parasites of the Desert World
By EDMUND C. JAEGER 27
About those who write for Desert 30
From here and there on the desert 30
Current news of desert mines 34
Amateur Gem Cutter, by DR. H. C. DAKE . . . 37
Gems and Minerals 38
Just Between You and Me, by the Editor . . . 42
Reviews of Southwestern literature 43
Gallup Ceremonial back cover
The Desert Magazine is published monthly by the Desert Press, Inc., Palm Desert,
California. Re-entered as second class matter July 17, 1948, at the postoffice at Palm Desert,
California, under the Act of March 3, 1879. Title registered No. 358865 in U. S. Patent Office,
and contents copyrighted 1957 by the Desert Press, Inc. Permission to reproduce contents
must be secured from the editor in writing.
RANDALL HENDERSON, Editor
EUGENE L. CONROTTO, Associate Editor
BESS STACY, Business Manager
EVONNE RIDDELL, Circulation Manager
Unsolicited manuscripts and photographs submitted cannot be returned or acknowledged
unless full return postage is enclosed. Desert Magazine assumes no responsibility for
damage or loss of manuscripts or photographs although due care will be exercised. Subscribers
should send notice of change of address by the first of the month preceding issue.
SUBSCRIPTION BATES
One Year $4.00 Two Years $7.00
Canadian Subscriptions 25c Extra, Foreign 50c Extra
Subscriptions to Army Personnel Outside U. S. A. Must Be Mailed in ^Conformity With
P. O. D. Order No. 19687
Address Correspondence to Desert Magazine, Palm Desert, California

Full Moon arch, one of more than 30 natural windows found in the Mystery
Valley sector of Monument Valley.
With Harry Goulding
in Mystery Valley...
Perhaps the way is now open for Monument Valley in northern
Arizona and southern Utah to become a national park—a Navajo
National Park. Anyway, that is the dream of Harry and Mike Goulding
who have lived with the Indians in this remote sector of the Navajo
reservation for more than 30 years. This story will give a glimpse of
some of the fantastic formations and prehistoric ruins which are found
in this region—and of the descendants of Chief Hoskaninni and the
little band of rebels who fled to this arid land in the early '60s.
MANY years it has been
the dream of Harry Goulding
that the colorful buttes and
domes, and the golden sands of Monument
Valley astride the Arizona-Utah
border, would become a national park.
Many of those who have visited
Monument Valley share Goulding's
feeling that this land of fantastic stone
formations, prehistoric Indian ruins,
and primitive Americans would easily
qualify for national park status. But
there were obstacles, the most serious
of which is that Monument Valley is
almost entirely within the reservation
of the Navajo Indians—a reservation
established by a treaty which forbids
the disposal of any Indian land without
the consent of the tribal owners.
Perhaps the Indians themselves have
By RANDALL HENDERSON
Map by Norton Allen
a solution for this difficulty. In 1934
the Navajo Tribal Council passed a
resolution providing ". . . that all areas
of scenic beauty and scientific interest
which require preservation be hereby
reserved as Navajo Parks, Monuments
or Ruins, to be managed by the Navajos
themselves with the cooperation
of the Indian Service, and other helpful
agencies . . ."
At the time the resolution was
passed, the Indians had no funds with
which to undertake so far-reaching a
program. More recently, with the tribal
treasury enriched by $33,000,000 in
oil and mining leases and royalties, the
Navajos have taken steps to implement
their program. In February this year,
by a vote of 63 to 0, the Tribal Council
instructed its chairman, Paul Jones,
to name a commission of five members
to survey potential park and monument
sites and make recommendations
to the Council.
Many times in the last 20 years I
have toured the more accessible areas
of Monument Valley with Harry
Goulding who, with his attractive wife,
Mike, have operated the Goulding
Trading Post for more than 30 years.
The Trading Post, now enlarged to
include well-furnished guest accommodations,
is as much a part of Monument
Valley as are the hogans of the
hundred or more Navajo families, who
with their ancestors, have herded sheep
in this remote desert region since the
early 1860s when Chief Hoskaninni
fled with a little band of irreconcilables
into this remote region as a hideout.
This happened at the time when Kit
Carson was rounding up the Indians
in Canyon de Chelly for removal to a
concentration camp at Fort Sumner.
Most of the Indians in Monument Valley
today are descendants of the Hoskaninni
band.
The only access to this region today
is over Highway 47 which crosses
Monument Valley as the motorist
drives south from Monticello, Utah,
to Kayenta, Arizona. This sector of
Highway 47 is a graded gravel road,
fairly smooth on the Utah side, corrugated
on the Arizona side. Side roads
extending across the floor of the Valley
are sandy, and unsuitable for the
conventional cars of today.
During many trips into the Valley
I have in some measure learned to
share Harry Goulding's deep attachment
to this land and its native American
inhabitants. I have confidence that
DESERT MAGAZINE

under Indian ownership and management,
and accorded the federal aid
that is granted to all national parks
and monunients, it would become one
of America's most popular recreational
areas.
Mike and Harry Goulding, as a
young bride and groom, came to this
place in 1924. They lived in a tent
while they erected the stone building
which still serves as a trading post.
Their nearest supply points at that
time were Flagstaff, 200 miles to the
south in Arizona, and Thompson,
about the same distance in Utah.
The Indians were shy at first, but
before long the young cowboy and his
friendly wife were recognized as
friends. Harry and Mike both learned
to speak the language.
There were practically no roads in
the region, but Harry began breaking
trails across the desert floor that lies
around the great monoliths which give
the Valley its name. Venturesome
travelers began coming into the Valley
and the Gouldings provided modest
accommodations for them.
Today visitors come from all over
the nation, by auto and plane, to sit
on the veranda of the spacious lodge
at the base of a 1000-foot cliff and
enjoy a landscape picture that extends
for 100 miles and more. Jack and
Marge Sleeth, who manage the guest
accommodations and provide jeep
guide trips for guests, have made it
Prehistoric Indians created this room by building a rock
and mud wall in a crevice. It probably was a storage
vault.
Harry Goulding stands beside the ruins of one of the ancient cliff dwellings
which he hopes to see protected by including the area in a national park.
possible for the Gouldings to relax
after their many years of pioneering.
But Harry still finds time to keep
close contact with his Navajo friends.
He is a welcome visitor in every hogan,
for there is no family in Monument
Valley which at some time has
not been helped by his interest and
generosity.
In May this year I had an opportunity
to return to Monument Valley,
and with Harry as guide, extend my
exploration into some of the remote
areas I had not yet seen. Actually,
Monument Valley covers an area ap-
proximately 40 by 50 miles—most of
them roadless miles.
Early one morning we left the trading
post in one of the jeep station
wagons Harry uses for guided tours,
and headed toward the Mystery Valley
area.
We stopped briefly at the Seventh
Day Adventist Mission Clinic where
Marvin and Gwen Walter are contributing
magnificently to the health and
education of the Navajo families in
the region. Their little group of mission
buildings, erected on a site donated
for the purpose by the Gould-
Wind and water down through the ages have carved
many strange formations in the De Chelly sandstone
of Mystery Valley.
•J. ' %:,

ings, is serving the same role in Monument
Valley as is the Presbyterian
Mission Hospital, for many years under
the direction of Dr. Clarence G.
Salsbury, at Ganado on the reservation
farther east.
Our destination was a sector of
Monument Valley which has been
given the name Mystery Valley because
continued exploration constantly reveals
new and unexpected rock formations
and evidence of prehistoric occupation.
The great rim-rock cliffs which
partly enclose this area are serrated
with lovely coves where prehistoric
Indians found overhanging shelter for
their mud and stone cliff dwellings.
While there is no road into this area,
the sandy floor of the valley is crisscrossed
with jeep tracks, and Harry
told me there has been considerable
vandalism at the cliff ruins in recent
years. However, many of the walls
are still standing, and whether or not
this place is to be designated as one
of the Navajo parks, it is to be hoped
that funds will be available for Indian
police to patrol the ruins.
Mystery Valley could have well been
named the Valley of the Arches, for
the visitor motoring along the floor of
the desert is nearly always within sight
of one or more of the many stone windows
which millions of years of erosion
have carved in the cliff walls.
There is Waterfall arch, Stout arch,
Full Moon arch, Double arch—over
30 of them altogether, some vertical
and some horizontal. The cliffs themselves
are fantastically eroded. There
are spires, turrets, domes, castles—all
the work of erosion in the colorful De
Chelly sandstone of the region.
Botanically, this is the zone of the
juniper and pinyon, and while the land
is too arid for a dense growth of these
desert trees, they are sprinkled over
the horizon in every direction. Growing
in the sandy floor we saw hedgehog
cactus, desert holly, lupine just coming
into blossom, and yellow bee clover
in full bloom.
Once Harry pointed to a cliff rose
which the Navajos call Awai-itsa, or
baby bush. The inner bark of this
shrub is twisted and fluffed and used
by Indian mothers to absorb the moisture
in the baby's cradle board. It has
a silky talcum feel and keeps the baby's
skin from chafing.
As we rode along Harry talked much
about his friends the Navajos, and
their problems. The tribe now has an
able administrative organization, the
Tribal Council. It is composed of four
representatives from each of the 18
districts into which the reservation is
divided. He especially praised the
work of Frank Bradley, one of the
tribal representatives from the 8th district
which includes Monument Valley.
It was largely through his efforts that
the Bradley boarding school at Kayenta
now makes it possible for all the
Monument Valley children to attend
school within easy travel distance of
their homes. That is, they are close
enough that their parents may visit
them occasionally. Also, Bradley is a
member of the newly appointed Navajo
Park Commission.
As we drove along Harry stopped
often to pick up a discarded bottle or
tin can which a thoughtless motorist
had tossed to the sands. "The Indians
do not litter the landscape," Harry
said. "These cans and bottles were
deposited here by motorists who do
not share the reverence for the good
Double Arch — created by millions of years of erosion in a remote sector of
Monument Valley.
earth which is part of a Navajo's religion."
Occasionally we passed a flock of
sheep, attended now by children too
young for school, or by elders beyond
school age. Harry always stopped to
exchange a few words in their own
language, and give them oranges from
a crate he carried in the jeep. It is
easy to understand the deep affection
these people have for the man who as
a neighbor has shared their problems
for over 30 years.
Harry Goulding has complete confidence
that the Navajo Indians can
carry out the park program they have
initiated, if the Bureau of Indian Affairs
and the U. S. Park Service will
give them friendly cooperation.
However, in undertaking the program
they have announced, the tribal
leaders will welcome the cooperation
of both the Bureau of Indian Affairs
and the National Park Service. The
Indians realize that in such a program
they have much to learn from the experience
of their white neighbors, and
it is their hope that they can maintain
a cordial relationship with the federal
agencies.
One paragraph of their tribal resolution
reads: "The Navajo Tribal Park
Commission shall not have authority
to deprive any Navajo Indian or his
heirs of the right to continue to use
any area of Navajo tribal land in the
same manner he was using such area
at the time a Navajo Tribal Park or
Monument was established embracing
such area."
While the parks and monuments on
the reservation are to be established
for the use and recreation of all Americans,
and in fact their profitable operation
will in large measure depend on
al fell

making them attractive to their offreservation
neighbors, Harry Goulding
feels that there will be no conflict of
interest. He is hopeful that the visitors
from outside the reservation will encourage
a revival of such Indian crafts
as weaving, silverwork and basketmaking.
The Navajos, like the Paiutes,
are adept at making the old-time water
baskets.
Monument Valley will not much
longer be isolated by bad roads to the
extent it was in former years. The
State of Utah is now black-topping
Highway 47 from Blanding to Bluff.
While I was in Monument Valley a
contractor's representative was there to
make a preliminary report for the extension
of the paving from Bluff
through Mexican Hat to the Arizona
border. Completion of this sector will
leave a gap of approximately 25 miles
from the Utah border to Kayenta yet
to be paved to provide Monument Valley
with a good through highway. The
Tndian Department is reported to be
making plans for the black topping of
this corrugated link.
Rusty Musselman, who has a trading
post at Bluff, Utah, recently began
the operation of a 3-times-a-week stage
line from Monticello to Flagstaff —
providing public passenger facilities
through Monument Valley for the first
time in history.
There are other road plans which
will add greatly to the accessibility of
the Monument area. The Navajo Trail
Association, of which Robert Ayers of
Durango, Colorado, is president, is
working diligently to secure the improvement
of a road which extends
west from Highway 666 in the Four
Corners region, roughly parallel to the
Arizona-Utah border, and connects
with Highway 47 at Kayenta. The
paving of this highway would complete
a scenic triangular route through the
Navajo reservation — from Shiprock
through Monument Valley and Kayenta
to Tuba City, thence through Oraibi,
Ganado and Window Rock to
Gallup, and back over Highway 666
to Shiprock.
Undoubtedly such a road would very
soon become popular with American
motorists, and it would make schools
and hospitals more accessible to great
numbers of Navajo and Hopi Indians
in the northern part of their reservations.
Harry Goulding feels that there are
a number of scenic and historical sites
on the Navajo reservation which are
entitled to national park or monument
status. He mentioned Shiprock, Coal
Canyon and areas in the Lukachukai
Mountains, in addition to the great
Monument Valley region.
Late that evening when Harry and
AUGUST, 1957
ff-yo TUBA city
PROMISE. '*•'•'
' MITCHELL •
. BUTTE
I wound our way back over the floor
of the valley to the cliff house which
has been the home of Harry and Mike
Goulding for nearly a generation, the
mental cabinet where 1 keep pictures
worth preserving was loaded to capacity
with visions of golden sand
dunes, fantastic natural arches, prehistoric
Indian dwellings—and of dark-
ROADS—
uH /
BUTTE' ••••' . H K 1 Z. U N H U
1 •••'Vir
A
U TH H
MONUMENT I/AUEV%
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KAVENTA"
"TUBA CITY
FLAGSTAFFO
fiRIZUNFl
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skinned and bright-eyed youngsters
who perhaps will have a better opportunity
to develop their latent abilities
if they can have more contact with the
best in the white man's civilization. I
share Harry Goulding's hope that some
day—not too long distant—Monument
Valley will become a Navajo National
Park.

THE CHIEFTAIN
By GRACE BARKER WILSON
Kirtland, New Mexico
The chieftain rests. For ages all unnumbered
In this dim place his quiet bones have lain;
But never think his restless soul has slumbered;
He stalks abroad on desert, mesa, plain.
Though archeologists of late have spied him,
And bared his remnants to the public view,
He haunts the trails of those who once
defied him,
And shouts a voiceless battle cry anew.
The ruins of his home are tourist treasures,
Explored and photographed just for a day.
But riding on the wind to martial measures,
He leads what spirit warriors, who can say?
CONVERSION
By SALLY HARVEY
Monrovia, California
At first I could not see
The beauty in this land—
But sparse, unlovely growth
And cactus-studded sand.
Then I saw the hills
Turned rosy by the dawn,
And a soft purple-blue
When night was coming on.
Golden flowers spread
As far as one could see—
Desert colors of spring
Have made a fan of me!
Photo by Don Ollis
JOSHUA TREE
By SALLY HARVEY
Monrovia, California
So lonely—
A stark figure against the sky.
And twisted,
The black thick limbs awry.
How white
The blossom in the spring,
Indomitable—
Of all the desert, king.
What Price Peace?
By TANYA SOUTH
What price peace, of wrongs compounded?
Greatness is on struggle founded!
Peace is but a phase—no more.
For the pendulum will swing,
And we grovel or we soar,
Or we're mute, or shout or sing,
As we earn and as we learn
All the things for which we yearn.
Ah, attainment is a raiment
Not acquired without full payment.
Be it peace or be it war,
Man can only learn to soar
Through his striving with each grain—
Which is always pain.
The Cholla's Deceit
By DARWIN VAN CAMPEN
Phoenix, Arizona
Old man of the desert?
White from ageing years?
Give you cause no longer
For intruder's lingering fears?
Has your vengeful cactus spirit
Lost the vigor of its prime?
Do you let your home's intruders
Go unpunished for their crime?
Aid you not your brothers
In defense of your own land?
Have you at last deserted
Their staunch defending band?
Ouch! I've found you out
You masquerading fake.
You held your barbs in waiting
Till I caused the ground to shake.
Then with youthful quickness
You hurled them at my feet,
And your beguilement was effective
Because you've caused me to retreat.
TWILIGHT DREAMS
By MARLENE CHAMBERS
Bloomington, Indiana
The desert sunlight haunts my dreams today;
Before it scatter all the dull delights.
Their feeble radiance fades within the ray
Whose brilliance drives their half-light into
night.
How tired and dull, how worn and pale the
dreams
That seemed so fresh and bright an hour
ago!
Like tumbleweed before the wind, their
beams
Are driven afar—banished by desert glow.
But ghost of sun is fickle in its flight;
And though my famished sight bids it remain,
The vision vanishes. The heavy night
Descends. I call the phantom back—in vain,
An alien amid the northern snows.
My dreams will always seek the desert rose.
VAGABONDS
By MARIE H. EUBANK
La Verne, California
Let's go down the winding road,
Fear and care abandon.
Choosing for our day's delight
Lovely paths at random.
Let's seek hilltops few have trod,
Or roam through meadows green.
Pausing in our joyous flight
To praise a power unseen.
Let's test the lure of desert land.
From toil let's find release.
Scuffing our feet through drifted sand
As we bask in quiet and peace.
Let's catch the beams of sunlight
Filtering through the trees.
Or cast a fly in shimmering pools,
Nature's gift to seize.
Let's not shrink from the raindrops
Lowering clouds would send.
Ecstatic vagabonds let's be
To our journey's end.
DESERT MAGAZINE

It's much easier to grow these
colorful desert natives in your garden
than you think — and this
month the dean of desert nurserymen,
Ted Hutchison of Calico,
tells you how.
Red Blossoms
in Your
Desert Garden
By TED HUTCHISON
N THE California deserts grow
five red - blossoming perennials
that are easily adapted to the
home garden. All that is required is a
little understanding of their simple
needs.
These plants are Chuparosa, Mojave
Claret Cup, Ocotillo, Scarlet Bugler
and Scarlet Locoweed. They range
from sea level to 7000 feet and most
are easily grown from seed. Some can
be started from cuttings or transplanted,
but laws of the Southwestern
states prohibit the removal of native
vegetation. Therefore, these plants
should be obtained from nurseries—
and it is not against the law to collect
seeds on the desert except within National
Parks and Monuments and State
Parks.
While desert plants are very drouth
resistant after they are established, they
need plenty of moisture to start from
seed or to resume growing after transplanting.
They also like a bit of fertilizer
and apparently are not particular
which kind you give them.
Once established, these plants do
best with a few long thorough soakings
each year. Water several feet away
from the crown of the plant to train the
roots to spread out. Continuous moisture
is not good for the plants and
short surface sprinklings are especially
bad.
Seeds can be started directly in the
ground or in containers for later transplanting.
Tin cans or glazed pots are
preferred to red clay pots which dry
quickly on the desert. Milk cartons
serve well, too, but whatever type container
you use, be sure to shade it from
the hot sun or the tender roots may be
cooked by the heat.
Above—Blossoms of the Ocotillo.
Below — Mojave Claret Cup or
Mound Cactus. Photo by Roy Miller.
AUGUST, 1957

Plants need not be removed from
cartons or cans when you want to
establish them in permanent locations.
Merely slit some holes in the bottom
and sides of the containers and place
them in the planting hole. When removing
plants from pots, first give
them a good soaking to eliminate the
danger of roots sticking to the container.
And once in the ground, keep
your plants damp until they are growing
well.
Best time to transplant larger plants
is when they are in their dried out or
dormant phase. They should be kept
moist until re-established.
Here are some planting hints on the
five plants mentioned above:
Chuparosa (Beloperone californica),
found on the Colorado Desert in
washes and among rocks in the warmer
areas. A reedy bush, two to six feet
tall with tubular, flaring flowers. This
is a heavy bloomer and in mild winters
may flower all year around. Seed pods
are club-shaped with four to six BB
shot-like seeds which are hurled when
the ripe pods burst. To collect seeds,
cover the green pod with a small piece
of cloth or tobacco sack.
Rock $ fatty
of Death Valley
It was mid-summer, and from
the leanto porch in front of the
Inferno store the dust devils
could be seen whirling across
Death Valley's salt flats.
The dude prospector who had
stopped at the store for a cold
drink, ambled out on the porch
where Hard Rock Shorty was
taking his afternoon siesta.
"They look like miniature tornadoes,"
he remarked, by way
of conversation. Shorty opened
his eyes and asked, "Did you say
something about tornadoes?"
"Oh, I was just watching those
little whirlwinds stirring up the
dust. They are small-scale models
of the big tornadoes we have
down in Texas."
"Only difference is them Texas
cyclones do a lot o' damage,"
Shorty answered, "an' these little
dust devils is harmless.
"Fact ol' Pisgah Bill put 'em
to work one summer," Shorty
went on. "Bill wanted to build
Temperatures of 15 degrees Fahrenheit
or lower may damage this plant,
but it will come up again from the
roots. Sow the seed in the spring and
by fall the plants will be large enough
to begin flowering. The flowers vary
in shades of red and sometimes cuttings
can be started from plants that
have a particularly fine color. Some
of the most spectacular specimens of
Chuparosa I have seen were at the
Borrego State Park Headquarters
where they had been shaped into columns
three feet in diameter and six
feet high. In the spring these columns
were solid masses of red.
Mojave Claret Cup or Mojave
Mound Cactus (Eschinocereus Majavensis)
is found in high altitudes. Clusters
of two inch heads medium to
heavily spined, the clusters up to two
feet across and one foot high. Blooms
shaped like stemmed wine glasses in
brilliant burnt red colors. Seeds small,
black, in a juicy berry very much
relished by pack and kangaroo rats
and chipmunks so they are rather
scarce when ripe.
This is a plant for cold to medium
locations which can tolerate tempera-
a corral fer his pack mules, an'
he figured he'd let them wind
whirligigs do the hard work.
"He put a couple o' wind
wings on the top of his post-hole
auger, and then he'd set the
auger in the ground a few inches
and wait in the shade until one
of them dust devils came along
and drilled the hole fer 'im. Took
a lot o' time that way, but time
meant nothin' to Bill—he had all
summer to build that fence, so
he jest waited.
"Scheme wuz workin' all right,
an' Bill had about three-quarters
o' them holes dug. Then along in
September the weather changed
an' them whirlwinds got bigger 'n
stronger. They'd turn that auger
so fast it would bury the drill in
the ground, handle an' all. Bill
never could figger out a scheme
fer puttin' a brake on it. Finally
ran outta money buyin' new mail
order augers—an' he never did
get that corral finished."
tares as low as zero degrees Fahrenheit.
For planting on warm desert
areas, keep under lath or in shade of
an open tree. This plant is easily
transplanted but hard to start from
slip and growing from seed is for specialists.
In transplanting care should
be taken not to bruise the plant or it
may rot.
Ocotillo (Fouquieria splendens) is
found on the warmer deserts in welldrained
soil. Clusters of long thorny
branches to 10 feet or more in height.
Spikes of red flowers at the tips of the
branches. The plant grows its foliage
of green leaves only after rain and
flowers if that rain is heavy enough.
Seed pods are straw colored with half
inch flat seeds covered with white
"cotton."
This is a plant for warm to medium
locations and will withstand temperatures
of 10 degrees Fahrenheit. It
grows very easily from seed, slips
easily and transplants well. Plant seed
in the spring after soil is warm and if
kept damp will grow rapidly—as much
as 15-inches the first year. Cuttings
or transplants should be kept damp
until growth starts. This plant, grown
as a hedge, has long been used as a
coyote-proof fence on the desert.
Scarlet Bugler (Penstemon centranthifolius)
is found in the western desert
areas and on over into the coastal
side of the mountains. It is almost a
herbaceous perennial, the long spikes
dying back after flowering. It has tubular
red flowers on spikes up to two
and a half feet long, a foot and a half
of the stem being in flower at one
time. Clusters of seed pods full of
brown seed follow the flowers.
This is a plant for warm and medium
areas and can tolerate temperatures as
low as 10 degrees Fahrenheit and possibly
lower. It is very easily started
from seed in the spring and will flower
the second year. Oftentimes seed scattered
by the wind will sprout around
the garden. In Yucca Valley there is
a border of this plant around a cactus
garden and volunteers are coming up
among the cacti and adjacent desert.
Scarlet Locoweed {Astragalus coccineus)
is found in high desert altitudes
growing up to eight inches in
height. It has a fuzzy gray pea-like
foliage with clusters of red flowers.
The pea-like pods also are fuzzy and
the seeds are small, brown and flat.
This is a cold to medium weather
plant. Possibly it could be grown in
warmer locations if planted in shady
places. Start seeds in September or in
the spring. One year I started some in
September and one plant flowered in
midwinter, the container it was in often
freezing solid at night.
DESERT MAGAZINE

Las Voladores—ara ancient Aztec rite—is performed by Smoki dancers atop a
50-foot pole. Photo by Al Cirou.
When the Smokis Dance at Prescott...
Each August the ancient and
sacred rituals of the American Indians
are faithfully re-enacted in
Prescott, Arizona, by the Smoki
People — white men and women
who donate many hours in study,
rehearsal and work to make these
presentations as nearly perfect as
possible. Here is the story of this
praiseworthy civic organization
whose purpose it is to preserve for
all time the ceremonies of the rapidly
integrating first Americans.
By THOMAS B. LESURE
7HE EVENING shadows had
turned to thunderous clouds
over the picturesque pueblo.
Forked lightning streaked the sky in
all directions, and torrents of rain
whipped by a strong wind all but
turned the plaza into a quagmire. Yet,
despite the storm, the steady beat of
an Indian drum and the rhythmic chant
of snake dancers continued unabated.
Snakes in hand and rattles clacking,
the dancers stepped their serpentine
way around the plaza, never stopping,
never missing a beat, never slipping.
It was an amazing performance, made
even more impressive by the weather.
That was my introduction — some
four years ago—to the Smoki People
AUGUST, 1957
Smoki drummers use authentic cowhide drum to rap out the beat for the
dancers. Photo by Al Cirou.
11

The mark of a Smoki Chief. The tattoo and the silver and turquoise ring
bearing the same markings symbolize a past chief of the Smoki People.
Photo by Al Cirou.
Pictute-of-the-month Contest...
For the photographer, the desert offers a wide and interesting
variety of camera subjects: Indians in colorful costumes, sunsets,
plants, animals, mountains, insects, rivers, clouds, strange rock formations
and people enjoying themselves in the desert environment.
And for the photographer whose picture is judged a winner in our
monthly photo contests, Desert Magazine offers cash awards. It's an
easy contest to enter and there is no limitation on your photo subject
so long as it is of the Desert Southwest.
Entries for the August contest must be sent to the Desert Magazine
office. Palm Desert, California, and postmarked not later than August
18. Winning prints will appear in the October issue. Pictures which
arrive too late for one contest are held over for the next month. First
prize is $10; second prize $5. For non-winning pictures accepted for
publication $3 each will be paid.
HERE ARE THE RULES
1—Prints must be black and white. 5x7 or larger, on glossy paper.
2—Each photograph submitted should be fully labeled as to subject, time and
place. Also technical data: camera, shutter speed, hour of day, etc.
3—PRINTS WILL BE RETURNED WHEN RETURN POSTAGE IS ENCLOSED.
4—Entries must be in the Desert Magazine office by the 20th of the contest month.
5—Contests are open to both amateur and professional photographers. Desert
Magazine requires first publication rights only of prize winning pictures.
6—Time and place of photograph are immaterial, except that it must be from the
desert Southwest.
7—Judges will be selected from Desert's editorial staff, and awards will be made
immediately after the close of the contest each month.
Address All Entries to Photo Editor
Z>e4c*t t 7HaQ4$i*e PALM DESERT. CALIFORNIA
of Prescott, Arizona, who are noted
throughout the country for their colorful
and faithful presentations of Indian
ceremonial dances. And it set me to
wondering.
Who are these people? How did
their tribe begin? What goes on behind
their annual ceremonials? How
do they become so proficient in their
dances? These and other questions.
Last August, I again had an opportunity
to see the Smoki People. My
wife, Nan, and I drove to Prescott a
few days before the Ceremonials,
talked with the members of the tribe,
watched their preparations for the
dances and once again saw a memorable
performance. But even more impressive
were the People themselves
and the work they accomplish.
The Smoki People are not, as one
famous encyclopedia erred, "an almost
extinct tribe of Arizona Indians." The
mistake was understandable, though,
since a Smoki in paint and costume
often is indistinguishable from a real
Indian—so authentic and complete are
their transformations at Ceremonial
times. Actually, the Smokis are white
men and women from Prescott who
have dedicated themselves to the preservation
and presentation of ancient
Indian ceremonials, mystic rites and
legends. There are now about 300
active members. Another 300 persons
who, "once a Smoki always a Smoki,"
have moved from Prescott but still
retain their status in the tribe.
They come from all walks of life
and are of all ages. We met bankers,
shoemakers, doctors, merchants, dentists,
public utility officials and even
a U. S. Senator. "I guess there isn't
any business or profession that is not
represented among the Smoki People,"
one member told us. "And we have
had performers ranging from babes in
arms to 80 year olds."
Though usually well-known among
Prescott residents, the Smoki People
are reticent about personal publicity
and their bylaws expressly forbid individuals
publicly being called by
name. They feel that the tribe—not
its members—is the important thing,
and they carefully retain an air of
anonymity when you ask for public
identification. That is why there are
no names in the captions of the photographs
accompanying this article. Indeed,
it was only with great persuasion
that we were even able to obtain photographs
of individuals before they assumed
their Indian roles.
However, there is one way you can
always tell a Smoki: look for a tattoo
on the outer edge of his left hand.
Men are marked with four dots in a
row . . . . , while past chiefs have a
crescent added ....). Women are
12 DESERT MAGAZINE

marked with slants / / and past head
squaws have an added dot / / . .
The Smoki People originated in
1921 when the Prescott Frontier Days
Association staged a one-day fund
raising celebration called, "Way Out
West." Part of the fun was a Snake
Dance which old-timers claim was
realistic despite the prevailing mirth.
The dance caught the public fancy and
was repeated the following year. But,
this time it was called the Smoki
Dance, "Smoki" being a coined word
with roots in the old Moki tribe of
Hopi legend. By 1924, the spirit of
mirth that characterized the first performances
began to disappear, and the
Smoki People of today — with their
authentic and artistic dances —
emerged. The Smoki Ceremonial became
an event in itself. And through
the years, intensive research and a
spirit of dedication have made the
Smokis acknowledged masters of the
art of staging faithful reproductions of
a wide variety of Indian ceremonials.
Now each August—usually on the
first or second Saturday—the Smokis
stage a one night performance of about
five dances ranging from 15 to 35
minutes each. There may be the Zuni
vShalako, Hopi Buffalo, Navajo Fire,
Shoshone Banda Noqai, Eagle, Corn,
Feather, Sun or other dances. But
always the program is opened with the
making of a huge Smoki sand painting,
and is closed with the Smoki Snake
Dance.
A permanent pueblo stage in the infield
of the County Fairgrounds, a
short distance from downtown Prescott,
is the Ceremonial setting. From
the grandstand it presents the appearance
of an authentic Indian village
complete with trees, ramadas and outdoor
ovens—all backed by the pineclad
hills that encompass the town.
Behind scenes the pueblo is an orderly
maze of make-up rooms and storage
sheds.
In addition, the Smoki People maintain
two rustic stone buildings on a
knoll on the east side of Prescott.
Known as the Smoki Museum and
Before and after—Two Smoki tribesmen are transformed into
make-up, costumes and wigs. Photos by Al Cirou.
Pueblo, they are the showplace and
home of this unusual tribe. Both were
built entirely by Smoki members, and
are authentic reproductions of ancient
Indian architecture.
The Pueblo, however, is not open
to the public. It is the center of Smoki
social and tribal life with rooms like
the Sanctum decorated in an Indian
motif and the important fireplacebacked
Council Table. Here, too, is
the Smoki library—one of the most
extensive specialized sources of Indian
ceremonial lore in the country. For
those who are privileged to visit it,
the Smoki Pueblo is a quietly imposing
place steeped in the traditions and
legacies of ancient culture.
The Museum, open daily from June
through September, is a treasure house
of Yavapai County and Smoki relics.
Huge Zuni Shalako figures stand guard
over a faithful ladder-crowned reproduction
of a Hopi kiva at Oraibi that
fills the center of the large room.
Around the edges of the pine and sapling
beam-ceilinged room and in nu-
"Indians" with
AUGUST, 1957 13
•

merous show cases are thousands of
artifacts.
The museum also is the repository
for most of the costumes and paraphernalia
used in the ceremonials.
Though this section is not usually
shown to the public, we were fortunate
in having a look behind the scenes of
last year's Ceremonial. Although about
75 percent of the material had been
removed for the day's performance,
we counted more than four score
boxes, each marked to show their contents,
dozens of Hopi Kachina masks,
and hundreds of buckskin and cloth
dresses, bells, rattles, prayer sticks and
other items.
To try to estimate the amount of
TRUE OR FALSE.
work these costumes represent is virtually
impossible. None of the Smoki
people with whom we talked could
even begin to figure the total value of
time, material and effort, but all agreed
it amounted to thousands of hours and
dollars. One costume might take several
months to produce, another only
one day. All are made during hours
freely donated by tribal members. The
costumes, as authentic as possible, are
made for durability—to be used time
and time again for appropriate dances.
An idea of the tremendous amount
of work put into each annual Ceremonial
can be had by citing the example
of last year's chief and one of
his ceremonial priests. Together, they
One way to become acquainted
with the interesting facts about
the Great American Desert
without spending money for gasoline and tires is to devote an hour once
a month to Desert Magazine's quiz lesson. You'll not answer all of these
correctly, but it is no disgrace to be wrong. Twelve to 14 is a fair score,
15 to 17 is excellent, 18 or over will send you to the head of the class.
The answers are on page 36.
14
1—A chuckawalla lizard is more venomous than a gila monster.
True False
2—Beaver trapping is still an important industry along the Colorado
River. True False
3—The Rainbow Bridge National Monument is in Arizona. True
False
4—Hematite is an iron ore. True False
5—The man who killed the notorious outlaw Billy the Kid was Pat
Garrett. True False
6-—-Desert mirages are seen only during the summer months. True
False
7—The old Spanish trail known as Camino del Diablo crossed the
Colorado River at Yuma. True False
8—Greasewood or creosote bush never grows below sea level. True
False
9—The site of old Fort Calville normally is buried beneath the waters
of Lake Mead. True False
10—Charleston Peak may be seen from Las Vegas, Nevada. True
False
11—Indian symbols incised in rock with a sharp tool are known as
petroglyphs. True False
12—Stalactites form on the ceilings of caves, stalagmites on the floor.
True False
13—Roadrunners have been known to attack and kill rattlesnakes.
True False
14—The capitol of New Mexico is Albuquerque. True False
15—The leaves on Aspen trees turn yellow in the fall. True
False
16—Certain species of woodpeckers drill holes and raise their young in
cavities in Saguaro cacti. True False
17—Havasupai Canyon where the Supai Indians have their reservation
is in the Panamint Mountains of California. True False
18—Hanksville is the name of a town in Utah. True False
19—The reservoir behind Davis dam in the Colorado River is known as
Lake Mead. True False
20—Imperial Valley in California is irrigated with water from the Salton
Sea. True False
devoted more than 3000 hours or 37
40-hour weeks each—in addition to
their regular jobs!
According to Mrs. Bernice Insley,
curator of the Smoki Museum and
author of Indian Folklore Tales, members
of the tribe begin talking about
the next ceremonial almost as soon as
they put away the costumes of the current
year's dances. A new chief is
elected in the fall, and by the first of
the year the Smokis have chosen the
dances to be performed in August.
A director and cast are appointed
for each dance, and the intensive research
begins. Especially important
are the Bureau of Ethnology reports
made in 1879 for the Smithsonian Institution.
These are complete in almost
every phase of the dance—from symbols
on the costumes to the order of
dance steps. Still further research is
made to insure complete detail and
authenticity. If the chosen dances still
are being performed by Southwestern
tribes, the chances are members of the
Smokis have seen them, and they are
called on for first-hand reports.
The women—and men, too—begin
making the needed costumes. Sometimes
old outfits can be made over, but
more likely a completely new one is
created. Bells, rattle gourds, shields
and other accessories, of course, remain
standard except for changes in
symbols. But, even here, small repairs
and changes add up to many manhours
of work.
The Smokis chosen for the dances
begin to practice their steps months
before the performance date. Not only
must they learn the sequence of steps,
they also must perfect their interpretive
knowledge of the dance and its
chant. As in real Indian ceremonials,
everything must be as perfect as humanly
possible.
Meanwhile, the make-up men study
the required markings and collect the
needed paints. Other committees swing
into action, doing their appointed tasks,
until the whole group is active. It is,
in truth, a year-long job.
The Smoki People begin collecting
snakes in April or May. Instead of the
rattlers used in the Hopi dance, they
use non-poisonous bull snakes. The
reptiles are deposited in a snake pit
between the pueblo and museum where
they are kept until just a few hours
before Ceremonial time.
"Snakes are getting scarce around
here, though," one past chief complained,
"and we're thinking of keeping
them from year to year. Of course,
that presents a problem in feeding,
but we're learning from zoos how to
raise rats, and supply other food to
keep them happy."
As Ceremonial day approaches last
DESERT MAGAZINE

minute touches are added to costumes,
dances are brought to a peak of perfection,
and the pueblo set is refurbished.
The degree of cooperation—
even from outsiders—is amazing. The
Santa Fe Railroad, for example, runs
its regular daily train from Phoenix to
Ash Fork through the city half-way
through the performance. Instead of
blowing the train's whistle, the engineer
quietly proceeds past crossings
manned by torch-burning members of
the Smoki People.
It may seem that nothing ever goes
wrong at a Smoki Ceremonial. At
least, that usually is the impression
from the grandstand. But mishaps do
happen.
About two years ago one of the
snakes swiped the black wig right off
a performer's head. Luckily, he was
near enough to the pueblo to duck
into it, reset his wig, and rejoin the
line of dancers without anyone in the
audience being aware of it.
Not too long ago, Mrs. Insley—
who was given the name "Nokomis"
meaning grandmother—played the part
of the Spider Woman, famous in Southwestern
Indian legends. In the course
of the ceremonial, two smoke pots were
supposed to have been set off at intervals
to create a mystic smoke screen
while she produced the snakes. Instead
both accidentally went off at the
same time.
&
* • •
"Why," she laughingly recalled, "I
Smoki snake pit with some of the dozens of reptiles used in the snake
dance. Photo by Mel Compton.
r:
Make-up man applies ceremonial paint to Smoki snake dancer. Photo by
Al Cirou.
was in an awful mess. My eyes and
nose were running from the smoke, and
I couldn't wipe away the tears for fear
of ruining my make-up. I was supposed
to get two snakes, but I couldn't
find them at first, and then when I did,
the threads holding them in place
wouldn't break. We had a terrible
time, but finally managed all right.
The only trouble was the man who
set off the smoke pots couldn't hear
for a week!"
Devotion to a worthy cause? Yes!
And you can see the notable results
yourself by attending a Smoki Ceremonial.
It begins as the sun sinks behind
the Yavapai Hills. The pueblo
comes to life—children romp around
its perimeters, women cook dinners
over open fires, and one by one the
colorful dances thrill the audience.
The Smoki People—who turn every
penny of the proceeds back into the
job of making the next year's performance
even better—are truly civic
minded and less concerned with their
own pleasure than in bringing to the
public an integral and vanishing part
of native Southwestern culture.
AUGUST, 1957 15

ITze author dips a drink from Yaqui Well. A section of concrete pipe
serves as a casing for the well, and the wood cover keeps the water clean
and pure.
HISTORIC DESERT WATERHOLES VIII
Yaqui Well
Forever mixed with the waters of Yaqui Well are the undying tales
of the Lost Pegleg Gold. Is this the waterhole that holds the key clue
to the lost treasure? Will man ever know?
,ES, SIR, I'm convinced that if
Pegleg Smith's mine is ever
found, it will not be far from
this waterhole. I don't know where
the mountain is where he found the
water, and which they later called
Smith Mountain, but there's no doubt
in my mind that the spring was Yaqui
Well."
The speaker was one of the perennial
searchers for the Lost Pegleg Mine
whose quest of many years had, according
to his belief, supplied every essential
clue short of the actual black scaled
gold nuggets with which Pegleg Smith
is supposed to have filled his pockets
on the Southern California desert.
I was camped at Yaqui Well one
late spring evening and after the dinner
chores were completed I joined several
other campers around a fire. The eerie
moonlight setting among the smoke
trees supplied just the right atmosphere
for recounting the many tales and legends
surrounding Yaqui Well, and it
was not long before the conversation
drifted to the subject of lost mines.
By WALTER FORD
Yaqui Well was once an important
California watering place on the old
Julian to Imperial Valley road, via the
Narrows and Kane Springs. The well
derived its name from a Yaqui Indian
who formerly lived there and who, according
to Philip A. Bailey in his
Golden Mirages, figured very prominently
in the Warner's Ranch Indian
episode of the Lost Pegleg Mine.
San Felipe Wash, in which Yaqui
Well is located, is the boundary line
between the two regions where the lost
mine is thought to exist. Many old
timers stoutly maintain that it could
be in no location other than the Vallecito-Carrizo
area. Others contend with
equal firmness that only the Badlands
of the Borrego region hold the secret
of Pegleg Smith's fabulous wealth.
Henry E. W. Wilson, of the latter
school and dean of the Pegleg searchers,
told me that during his 57 year
search for the mine he rarely came as
far south as Yaqui Well, except to visit
his friends, the Sentenac brothers, after
whom Sentenac Canyon is named and
who had a cattle ranch nearby. Henry
said that the Sentenacs raised some
of the finest cattle he had ever seen,
but many were lost to cattle thieves.
He told me of one occasion when he
visited his friends and found Paul Sentenac
excitedly jumping up and down,
waving his arms, and shouting over
and over, "He came in the night and
took my cattle!" naming the culprit
but seemingly unable to do anything
more about it.
Since the area adjacent to Yaqui
Well has had such a prominent place in
the search for the Pegleg Mine, it is of
interest to note what Major Horace
Bell had to say concerning Pegleg
Smith in his 1870 manuscript, edited
and published by Lanier Bartlett in
1930. Bell wrote:
"The author has little faith in the
actual existence of the Pegleg Mine,
because it was reported by that artistic
old liar, Pegleg Smith, whom he had
the honor of knowing in the palmy
days of Pegleg's lawlessness . . . Indeed
Pegleg was a magnificent thief on
the wholesale plan and the most supernatural
liar that ever honored California
with his presence. In the later days
of the 50s, dilapidated and played out,
he found his way once more to Los
Angeles. He sat around the old Bella
Union Bar, telling big lies and drinking
free whiskey, the latter easy to procure
when he would begin on the subject
of his alleged mine of fabulous
riches somewhere on the borders of
the Colorado Desert. Ever since the
old man died people have been searching
for the Pegleg mine, but they will
never find it in spite of the certain ore
which he procured somewhere and exhibited,
because it is a myth, a Pegleg
lie."
It is not to be expected that the
foregoing would deter an ardent Pegleg
searcher to the slightest extent, or
cause him to lose faith in his ultimate
goal, which is as it should be. It is
merely one man's opinion, against
which a true Pegleg believer can produce
much published evidence to support
his own convictions.
John S. Brown, in his Water Supply
Paper, 490, published in 1920, stated
that there was usually some poor but
drinkable water at Yaqui Well. It is
suspected that the poor quality of the
water at the time Brown made his report
may have been due to contamination
rather than natural causes, because
the water at the well today is of very
good quality. There is ample shade
around the well, which makes it a
popular spot for campers. Yaqui Well
is located a few hundred feet to the
right of Highway 78, approximately
15.3 miles west from Ocotillo or Benson
Dry Lake.
DESERT MAGAZINE

Across a narrow canyon in the Rough Rock country of northeastern Arizona,
members of the exploring party look down at the lovely ruins built and deserted
by prehistoric Indians hundreds of years ago.
We found a Way into
an Ancient Cliffhouse...
In his quest for new picture subjects, Joe Muench of Santa Barbara,
California, finds his way into many odd corners of the desert Southwest
—and sometimes his trail leads to unexpected adventure. Here is the
story of an unreported group of cliff dwellings on the Black Mesa of the
Navajo reservation—and of the hazardous means by which Muench's
companions gained access to it.
SEVERAL MONTHS ago, Joe
and I were out on the Navajo
Indian reservation in northern
Arizona. This 16-million photogenic
acres of the Southwest is one of our
favorite hunting grounds for picture
material. As usual, our search for new
AUGUST, 1957
By JOYCE ROCKWOOD MUENCH
Photographs by Josef Muench
Map by Norton Allen
places to photograph offered a pleasant
excuse to drop in on friends and
we stopped at Rough Rock Trading
Post to see the manager, Bill Greene,
and the Grahams, Peggy and Sprague,
who operate it.
We were pleased to find Art Greene,
Bill's father, (who runs his excursion
boat up the Colorado River in Glen
Canyon, Desert Magazine, Jan., 1957)
there, as well as another guest, George
Parker. The latter was making a leisurely
tour of the Colorado Plateau in
a power wagon and had been making
the post headquarters while he explored
the Black Mesa.
That night after dinner we sat before
a crackling fire in the big open hearth
and it was a perfect setting for telling
tales of past adventures and for discussing
new ones.
Bill's voice broke through the inconsequential
observations on the weather
and roads, how poor the sheep looked,
and what a big crop of pinyon nuts the
Indians were harvesting. He told about
a recent flight he made from Gallup,
New Mexico. In the late afternoon,
through a narrow slit in the canyon
walls, he caught a glimpse of a lovely
little prehistoric ruin nestling in a
shadowy cave.
As he related this experience my
husband sat upright and I saw an
eager look cross his face.
"Well," Bill continued, "none of the
Navajos at Rough Rock had ever men-
17

tioned this ruin, and I was curious to
learn more about it. "A few days later
I flew back over the same route, circled
the spot where numerous canyons play
out into the open desert and the sandstone
shows ages of erosion. After
several tries, I finally got the right
angle and caught sight of the ruins
again."
Art Green, who had accompanied
his son on the flight, took up the story.
"It was a neat little group," he said,
"but not even Joe Muench will ever get
inside of that cave to take pictures.
Those houses are located under an
overhang at least 150 feet below the
rim of the cliff, and it is another 100
feet straight down to the floor of the
canyon."
An hour and two rounds of coffee
later, we were still trying to talk our
way into the cave, and miles of slickrock
that guard it were keeping us out.
Bill had some objection to offer for
every plan that was suggested.
It seemed to boil down to these hard
facts: From below, supposing one
could get to the canyon, there was no
way up the face of the cliff without
mountain climbing equipment and experience.
That was out, for we were
not qualified even if we had the tools.
From above, the overhang would take
a man on a rope out much too far—
just swinging in air, with nothing to
land on. Anyway, where on that slickrock
could you anchor a rope? A car
couldn't climb over that expanse of
rolling, irregular sandstone, even if it
proved suitable as a "deadman."
Then George Parker spoke up. "If
you really want to get those pictures,
Joe, I think we could do it with my
power wagon and winch. I have 1000
feet of steel cable."
Sprague threw another log on the
fire and our enthusiasm flared up with
the flames. By midnight, we had
worked out a plan of action to the last
detail.
Next morning Bill, George and Joe
took off in the plane to scout out an
overland route from the post to the
ruins. At strategic points along the
way they threw out rolls of paper, and
these "bombs" opened in mid-air and
spread a long white trail on the ground.
Then, in the clear, cold air an hour
later, the whole party started off, armed
with thermos jugs of coffee, ropes,
lunch, some old tires and immense enthusiasm.
We went in two cars, the
lumbering power wagon and our ranch
wagon.
The road toward Chinle is crossed
by numerous tracks. Some lead to
distant hogans, some are trails bulldozed
for a hydrographic survey and
others just wander off in this or that
direction. There were a number of
false starts before we hit one that
looked promising. Joe recalled seeing
a wooden house, minus part of its roof,
from the air; Bill had three empty
hogans on a hill in mind, and George
was watching for a conspicuous knob
on Black Mesa to come into correct
perspective. With these landmarks we
located our white markers and headed
toward a point, about 20 miles from
Rough Rock, where the sandstone
swells up to a series of rounded domes.
When the ranch wagon had gone as
far as possible in the rough terrain, we
all got into the power wagon and drove
another five miles to a sweeping overlook.
It took another hour on foot to
pin-point the canyon and the cave.
George maneuvered the truck into
a rock hollow, hoping to find some
shelter from a sharp wind that had
suddenly sprung up, but there was no
escape from the biting gusts. I can't
remember when I have been colder.
During the balance of the day we
reconnoitered the area, finding that it
would be possible to head the canyon
Top photograph, opposite page —
George Parker's power wagon is
parked on rolling slickrock high
above the distant desert floor. Near
here is the prehistoric ruin.
Bottom—George Parker begins his
descent into the canyon of the ruin.
Tires prevent the steel cable from
cutting into the soft sandstone.
i 8 DESERT MAGAZINE

AUGUST, 1957
19

and reach a point directly across from
the ruin. We also discovered a sloping
ledge which offered a possible route on
the level of the ruin—if and when
someone could be lowered onto it.
More satisfying, we had an opportunity
to look at our cameo-like cliff
ruin, sheltered in the arched cove. Seeing
it so quiet and desolate, it was hard
to believe that at one time the narrow
canyon echoed to voices and stone
hammers, and that busy figures somehow
clambered down to the canyon
floor where a seep suggesting a now
buried spring supplied water for the
little community. The locale seemed
more suited for an eagle's nest than
a human habitation.
No roof poles showed and portions
of the cave ceiling had fallen, smashing
the walls of the houses. What may
have been a round kiva or ceremonial
chamber was conspicuous at the front,
more as an excavated pit than a room.
Even with field glasses we could not
distinguish a sign of man-made footholds
or a sloping approach which
might have served as a path over the
walls—not even a break in the rocks
where such a path could have fallen
away.
That night after dinner we sat before
the fire at Rough Rock and planned
the final assault. In Commando-raid
fashion, every member of the party
received an assignment to a specific
duty, and every possible mishap was
considered.
By mid-morning of the next day we
were in position at the canyon rim.
The power wagon was on the peak of
a rock swell 500 feet above the edge.
Art Greene warmed the engine that
operated the winch while George fastened
himself into the boatswain's chair
at the end of the line, and then slowly
retreated down the sloping slickrock to
the rim.
Old tires, cut in half and wired together,
were suspended over the soft
sandstone to keep the cable from cutting
into it. Two guide ropes were
looped over a projection of rock to
hold the cable straight.
Joe was posted across canyon where
he had started taking pictures and
could watch George's descent and signal
for the cable to be raised, lowered
or stopped as necessary. Bill, at the
point where the descent would be
made, was to relay Joe's signals to Art
and me high above him.
George was slowly easing toward
the edge. I stood at the winch where
I could watch the uncoiling wire and
still see Bill's hands. Raised above his
head, they were moving in a continuous
circle which meant "let it down,"
and across the gorge, Joe's hands
moved with the same command.
Slowly the cable played out, the
20
Going down! George Parker, lowered
over the cliff on a steel cable,
has just reached the ledge which he
will traverse to the cave of the ruins.
motor growled noisely and George disappeared
over the red rim.
Our first relayed report was that
George had reached the ledge. The
winch was stopped and from Joe we
knew the boatswain's chair was loosened
and secured to a rock and our
explorer was proceeding cautiously
along the ledge toward the cave.
We waited for half an hour, assured
by Joe that all was well, but impatient
to have our curiosity satisfied. During
the interlude I saw a solitary Navajo
figure standing out on the desert floor
and I considered what a puzzling sight
we must have made for him. In another
moment he disappeared, no
doubt shaking his head over the unfathomable
ways of the white man.
At last George told Joe he was ready
to come up and the long slow pull
began. The cable did not roll smoothly
on its drum, and there were moments
when the guy ropes seemed to be slipping
— uneasy moments they were —
but finally George's head appeared
over the rim where Bill took him by
the arm, and he was up and over.
When we had all returned to the
car George told us what he had seen
in the cave below. He found no clue
as to the route by which the prehistoric
dwellers in this cavern high up on the
sidewall had gained access to their
mud and stone pueblo. A lightly
scratched date on the cave wall —
"1926"—deepened the mystery. Thirty
years ago a non-Indian had somehow
gotten into the canyon and, according
to George, "had gone through the place
as though with a bulldozer." Certainly
no authorized expedition or trained
archeological party had been responsible
for such depredation.
There were about 20 rooms, some
built to the very ends of the opening.
All were one-story and the highest
walls were six feet high.
But, our adventure was not over.
Just as we started to leave, five Navajo
policemen appeared over a rocky swell,
coming in our direction.
The Navajo I had seen earlier in the
day apparently notified the officers of
the strange activity he had seen from
the desert floor and they were here to
investigate.
In a way this gave us great satisfaction
for it showed us that even in this
uninhabited corner of Navajoland, the
Indians knew when visitors were
abroad and were prepared to see that
ruins were not molested except under
proper authorization from the Tribe.
We explained how we had been recording—not
destroying—still another
fascinating wonder of Navajoland.
Adventure, I can assure you, still
waits on the desert and you can find it
in the air, on the ground, or in between.
DESERT MAGAZINE

LIFE ON THE DESERT
Prayer Stick Vengeance
The ancient Indians had hidden their religious fetishes in canyon
niches where they would remain undisturbed. But the author—like
many other pot-hunters before and since—desecrated the sacred caches
by removing the bowls and prayer sticks. Was the misfortune which
followed the manifestation of angry gods?
THE summer of 1928 I
was sent as relief agent to an
isolated railway station about a
mile and a half from an Indian pueblo.
Here the railway winds through a deep
gorge with an eroded tableland so high
above it that the full moon seemed
to be a brazen shield resting on the
rimrock, while deep in the canyon
drums throbbed throughout the night.
Mysterious desert nights and the
endless beat of pueblo drums have always
mesmerized me with a sense of
unreality, as do painted priests chanting
ancient prayers as they emerge
from the round-walled turrets of underground
temples.
Nightly I listened with interest, but
1 had no belief in the power of a medicine
man's curse or benediction, nor
in the sanctity of prayer sticks or efficacy
of sacred meal. With usual white
man brashness, I invaded forbidden
areas and pilfered relics I considered
abandoned.
Across the tracks from the depot
was such a place. Here a sandstone
wall towered from a talus of dirt and
rubble where the Ancients had dwelt
in primitive caves. I often explored
this place and gathered many artifacts.
One day my wife and I found a steep
path to the tableland above and we
climbed it with clandestine caution.
The flat mesa was cleft by many deep
narrow crevices and in most of them
we could dimly see beautiful bowls,
some containing prayer sticks—small
round pieces of wood bound with
feathers—and meat offerings.
Vaguely we had heard that there
was a curse against anyone who disturbed
them, but to us it was superstition
and nothing to worry about.
With a fishing line of string and hairpin
we lifted the bowls out of the ground.
We secured a nice collection of pottery
that day and many prayer sticks. Of
By D. D. SHARP
course this was in the early days before
enactment of laws restricting the
removing of artifacts.
We packed our new treasures and
expressed them to Albuquerque where
they were received and taken to our
home in the Sandia Mountains.
When my relief duties at the railway
station were completed, we returned
to our mountain home and made a new
niche in the adobe walls to display
the newly acquired artifacts, while I
boasted of the ingenuity we had used
to recover these trophies.
Soon after my return I was suddenly
and unexplainably stricken. The railway
doctors gave me a hopeless verdict.
I was finished, incapacitated. I
was ordered to go home and drag my
cot out in the shade and become a
permanent invalid. I refused their decree,
but soon discovered there is a
limit to the power of the human will.
Even during those long bleak hours
of meditation and worry as I lay in
bed, it did not enter my head that my
illness might have been caused by a
pagan curse.
That same year my wife took ill, far
more grieviously than I. In the months
she lingered with me, the 1929 financial
panic hit the country. Hospitals
and doctors were costly, the value of
my property fell. I sold some acreage
for a tenth of its original value, but
there was no alternative.
One quiet night when all the cabin
lights on the slope were out, I sat with
my head on her bed. "You know," she
said, "I have been thinking of those
prayer sticks. I want you to get rid
of them."
Coming from her these words gave
me a jolt. She was the calm sensible
type. I lifted my head and met her
sweet serious eyes, and my gaze fell
to her pale cheeks, hollowed with great
suffering. I wondered if she was rational,
or speaking from fright of some
nightmare or delirium.
I tried to smile at her, but couldn't.
"Sure," I promised.
Next morning I lifted them from
their niche in the wall, but I didn't
destroy them. It came over me that
I must not do this—not because they
were beautiful and valuable, but because
I had become afraid of them,
afraid to surrender to superstition lest
I be assailed by another and another
until my whole life would be ridden
with one taboo after another. So I
returned them to the niche and explained
my reasoning to my wife. She
did not protest.
"We're not children," I asserted
grandly, "it's against all reason to believe
those inanimate sticks have caused
our troubles."
A few weeks later, she who was so
much to me, passed away. And when
I was alone I began to doubt, to believe,
to feel recurring futile remorse
AUGUST, 19 5 7 21

for not havings done. what, she had
asked. :'. ::.'_..:: :
Yet I did not, even then, destroy the
sticks. I defied them to do anything
worse to me than they already had.
I lost my home, became bitter
against old friends—every decision I
made was wrong. If I turned left, escape
was to the right. If I waited, I
should have hurried ahead. And so I
sank deeper and deeper into disaster.
The bank, where I had deposited my
small remaining cash, failed. The man
who had promised me employment
that my physical abilities were capable
of performing, suddenly died of a heart
attack. And finally, the irrigated garden
I relied on for sustenance was
flooded and ruined by a neighbor's
LtTTBS
Protests No Campfire Rule . . .
Chula Vista, California
Desert:
With all respect to our California
State Park system and its efforts to
preserve the natural beauty of our deserts,
I find it extremely agitating as a
person who has camped in the outdoors
most of my life, to be confronted
by a Park Ranger in some isolated
spot and told that campfires are not
allowed.
What makes an outing complete? A
fire to gather around in the evening,
to sing by, chat with your children,
roast wieners, warm yourself on an
especially cold evening, or to sit quietly,
looking at the dying embers after
the children are all tucked safely away
in their bed rolls, meditating on the
richness and fullness of the great outdoors.
What good is camping without a
campfire? Can you gather a group of
people around a gasoline stove and
expect the same results that a campfire
produces?
And the park authorities will not
even let you bring in your own wood!
Heaven help us if the state park system
is extended over to the Colorado River.
REYBARNHART
Dear Rey: I am afraid you are going
to have to begin adapting yourself
to a changing world. The old
rules were all right in the days when
population was sparse and few people
camped on the desert. But those
days are gone—probably forever.
The statisticians are predicting
200 million Americans by 1975.
And that inevitably will mean increasing
regimentation for you and
me. One person can live on an
negligence.
N. Howard (Jack) Thorp, who
wrote "Little Joe the Wrangler" and
other cowboy songs, offered his help.
"Everywhere you turn," he said, "you
are reminded of your losses. I have
a cabin on the beach near Port Isabel.
Go down there. Get away from here
and begin all over with new factors,
new friends."
I left Albuquerque on August 20,
1933. On September 4 the worst hurricane
in history carried off Jack's
cabin and I escaped without a change
of clothes.
The next day as I stood on the desolate
wreckage-littered beach searching
for intimate keepsakes and finding
none, feeling overwhelming helpless-
island in perfect freedom. But if
999 more move in, then there has to
be some rules to safeguard the rights
and privileges of all of them. Put
100,000 on the island — and that
really will be rough on those rugged
individualists who cannot adjust
themselves.
We are heading in that direction
in the good old USA, including the
desert. So just thank the park ranger
for being so courteous about it—
and next time go a little further out
on the desert — beyond the rules
which the ranger must enforce to
insure protection for you and me.
—R.H.
• • •
Desert Treasure Awaits Him . . .
Haverford, Pennsylvania
Desert:
In the mid-1920s I used to prowl
around the desert in Imperial Valley
and the pull of the desert has never
left me. When life reached the point
where tempers were short and the
world took on a bluish tinge, I went to
the quiet lonesome places where humans
hadn't left their disturbing marks.
I was always healed and when I returned
to my fellows the world seemed
a lot different, but no better. Here in
Pennsylvania I still dream of the day
when once again I will renew my spirit
out there.
In those days there were no rockhounds
and when one roamed he had
the feeling that it had been many years
since a human had been there before
him. From what I read in Desert, it
is not like that now—yet there is one
place I stumbled on that I hope no
one has gotten to. It has remained in
my mind for the past 30 years.
Out on the desert in a wash bank,
two men had made a dug-out in the
dry hard clay. Inside was a small
crude table which was set for two—
knife and fork, a tin plate and cup,
on each side of the table. When I
picked up one of the knives the
ness, a thought struck me that lifted
my spirits to a remarkable degree. The
bowls and prayer sticks! The sea had
taken them too! If indeed my misfortunes
had been their curse, now I was
free!
From that hour to this, losses have
been made up to me. I have a nicer
home in the Sandia Mountains and a
larger acreage. I am married again,
and very happily. My decisions are
largely fortunate. My friends have been
tested by adversity. Life is good and
filled with promise.
Oh yes—Indian bowls, baskets and
dolls decorate our new house—and
they are beautiful, but they were purchased
from Indians who made them
for sale.
wooden handle turned to dust. Under
a very small iron stove was a pair of
old high-topped shoes which were so
dried out the leather broke off in
small pieces. Inside the oven were
two dried ears of corn.
Up the ravine I saw why these men
had lived here. The clay sides of the
ravine were laid bare to gray rock. I
picked up a piece and it was heavier
than common rock. I found no old
tools lying around.
For the past 30 years I have
dreamed of returning, hoping that
no one followed my earlier footsteps.
I am 62 years of age and in three
short years I will be getting my social
security checks. My wife and I have
been making plans to live somewhere
in southern Arizona. When that day
arrives we will get settled and then
drive over into Imperial Valley and I
will see what has happened to my discovery.
I wish to express my gratitude for
making it possible to keep fresh in my
heart the wonders of God's great
d
NELSON B. POWELL
• • •
Directions to Four Corners . . .
Riverside, California
Desert:
Recently, my companion Larry
Decker and I drove to the Four Corners
Monument where Utah, Colorado,
Arizona and New Mexico meet.
Thanks to an increase in uranium
and oil prospecting there are many
good roads in this area today. We
started from Tes Nos Pas, Arizona;
drove east for 1.2 miles then turned
left. At 3.5 miles we made another
left turn onto the unmarked road to
Four Corners.
Four hours and 20 miles later we
found the marker — a two-foot high
cement pillar on a flat area the size of
a city block.
JACK HARRIS
DESERT MAGAZINE

HISTORIC PANORAMAS VI
MISSION SAN XAVIER
By JOSEF and JOYCE MUENCH
Father Eusebio Francisco Kino founded
Mission San Xavier del Bac—the "White
Dove of the Desert"—in 1700, but the
present structure was not dedicated until
97 years afterwards.
It stands on the Papago Indian Reservation
in southern Arizona and was built to
serve both a spiritual and mundane purpose—to
Christianize the Indians, and to
serve as headquarters for a great ranch
which was to be worked by them.
The mission was abandoned several
times because of hostile Indians. Restored
in 1906, the present design exemplifies
the late Spanish Renaissance architectural
style and was built largely by Indian workers.
It is an amazing structure, considering
the materials available, with its ornate
facade and the arcaded and buttressed belfries.
Unlike most of the missions of its
period, it still is serving the Papagos under
the rule of the Franciscan Order.
Located only seven miles from Tucson,
it is one of the most widely visited landmarks
in the area.
AUGUST, 1957 23

She Paints With Gem Stones
By NELL MURBARGER
Photographs by the author
OF desert stone,
shaped with a pair of pliers and
fixed to a plywood foundation,
may not suggest an art form worthy
of blue ribbons, but Josephine Roberts'
great sense of artistry and endless patience
have made it just that. For the
past nine years, the unique "Studies
in Stone" created by this Nevada ranch
woman have been claiming first awards
wherever shown in competition; and
in 1955, at the exhibition of the California
Federation of Mineralogical Societies
in San Francisco, her exquisite
The beauty in stones has
been admired by man from the
beginning of time. And now a
Nevada ranch woman, Great-
Grandmother Josephine Roberts,
has combined the ancient arts
of sandpainting and mosaic
setting with modern art forms
to create a striking new method
of illustration.
arrangements not only carried off first
award for special exhibits, but literally
stole the show!
Each petal and lea] in this elaborate bouquet was hand-shaped from native
Nevada agate and gem stones by Josephine Roberts.
Jo Roberts' idea of "painting" pictures
without benefit of paint is the
outgrowth of her lifelong interest in the
many attractive stones in the vicinity
of Duckwater, Nevada, where her people
have lived for over a century—her
great-grandparents having settled here
soon after the 1849 California gold
rush. Josephine's mother was born
and reared in Duckwater Valley, as
was Josephine and her five daughters
and two sons; and now, 10 grandchildren
and sundry great-grandchildren
make, in all, seven generations of her
family which have lived in the Valley.
Even as a child, Josephine was attracted
to the colorful stones she saw
while riding horseback after cattle, and
throughout her girlhood she seldom returned
from a desert ramble that her
dress wasn't sagging with rocks. After
her pockets were filled to overflowing,
she even would rip a tiny opening in
the two-inch hem of her skirt and feed
more stones into this convenient storage
space—a practice not wholly appreciated
by her mother.
In 1910, Josephine met and married
Frank Roberts, a young engineer
from Philadelphia who was running
the survey for a projected railroad between
Ely and Tonopah. After their
marriage Frank and Josephine settled
on their present ranch in Duckwater
Valley, and Jo initiated her new husband
into the spare-time pursuit of
agates and arrowheads. "Spare time,"
however, is not exactly a surplus commodity
among folks who are rearing
seven youngsters and operating a Nevada
ranch 130 miles from their county
seat, and it was not until after the
Roberts had become great-grandparents
several times over that Josephine
found time to fully indulge her love of
pretty stones. Oddly enough, it was
Nancy Snyder, her youngest granddaughter,
who started Josephine on
the hobby that has since brought her
many hours of fascinating work, scores
of new friends, encouraging financial
return, and commendation by art lovers
throughout the country.
Since prehistoric times, the warm
springs that feed Duckwater Valley
have made it a favorite haunt of Indians
who camped and hunted there in
great numbers. As a result, arrowheads
were found in the valley in unusual
numbers, and on the walls of
the Roberts' home hang several frames
of beautifully-wrought 'points that they
have collected. With time's passage,
arrowheads became few, but still plentiful
are the small flakings of agate
cast aside by the 'point makers.
DESERT MAGAZINE

Clean, translucent and of many hues,
these discarded arrow chips are fascinating
to everyone who sees them, and
when the Roberts family went in search
of arrowheads and agates, Nancy and
her grandmother invariably brought
home hundreds of these tiny rock fragments.
With supper over and the
ranch chores done, the arrow chips
gathered that day were spread on the
kitchen table and the family members
would finger and admire the neat little
flakes whose texture is so like fine
porcelain and whose colors seem to
embrace all the vivid and pastel blendings
of desert noons and nights.
Nancy's sandhill treasures one day
included a handful of bright yellow
chips, and when she and the family
were looking at them that evening, her
grandmother idly arranged these little
rock slivers into a crude sunflower,
with a round brown chip for a center
and two green leaves. Delighted with
the "flower" fashioned from her stones,
Nancy insisted that it be glued to a
piece of cardboard so that she might
keep it.
In that crude design made to please
a child, the artistic eye of Jo Roberts
glimpsed the germ of an idea and the
next day saw another "stone picture"
fashioned—a picture less crude than
the first.
Although her efforts continued to
improve with practice, Jo Roberts' artwork
remained essentially rough until
she found that the agate chips could be
shaped to her special requirements by
tooling their edges with a pair of ordinary
cotter-key pliers. With this discovery,
latent possibilities of the hobby
burst into full bloom, and no day held
so many hours that Jo couldn't have
filled them all with experiments she
wanted to try and pictures she hoped
to create.
In her first "Studies in Stone" of
professional quality, Jo arranged the
shaped agate chips into sprays of
mixed flowers which were affixed to
pastel-hued cardboard and plywood
foundations. Artistically and neatly
arranged, even these early efforts
gained for their maker several first
awards from the Nevada Fair of Industry
at Ely, and the Nevada State
Fair at Fallon. As her skill increased,
however, she found that not only the
main subject matter but also the full
background of the pictures could be
wrought in stone by pulverizing rock
of the proper tint and then sifting it
to assure uniformity.
After the desired design has been
pencil-sketched on canvas or plywood,
Mrs. Roberts—like any artist working
in more conventional media — begins
with the most distant part of the pic-
Great-Grandmother Roberts with some of her prize-winning Studies in Stone.
ture and moves forward, creating first
the sky, then clouds, distant mountains,
hills—and then the main subject
matter in the foreground. Taking each
section of the scene in its proper turn,
she coats that one area with a strong
quick-adhering glue, and over this surface
sprinkles the sifted rock powder.
Many of the sand grains, naturally, fall
beyond the boundaries in which they
are wanted, but by turning the picture
face down and tapping sharply with the
fingertips, all unattached grains are
shaken free and only the glue-coated
section remains covered. Soon as one
color is in place, glue is spread upon
another area and powdered rock of
a different tint or shading is applied.
Upon reaching the main subject matter
in the foreground, where minute
detail is important, Jo Roberts turns
to the agate chips, shaping each tiny
piece of stone to fill its individual
need, and fixing each individually in
place. When one considers that few
of these hand-shaped bits of agate are
larger than the head of a match, and
some no bigger than a pencil dot, the
limitless extent of this ranch woman's
patience and artistry becomes apparent.
Working as slowly as the mills of
the gods are reputed to grind, Mrs.
Roberts has created pictures of almost
every subject except human portraits.
One of her loveliest pictures, the sub-
AUGUST, 1957 25

f
ject of enthusiastic acclaim and winner
of blue ribbons wherever entered in
competition, is of a Japanese azalia tree
in which each petal used in the many
scores of tiny flowers is hand-shaped
from agate chippings in the same delicate
shade of pink. Each flower is
fitted with its correct complement of
yellow stamens—and even these are
wrought from minute specks of stone.
Mrs. Roberts devoted 1500 hours of
close painstaking work to this single
creation.
Frank and Josephine Roberts enjoy a camp meal while on a desert outing near
their home in Nye County, Nevada.
Most difficult picture she has made
—at least insofar as matching colors
is concerned—is of a dwarf Japanese
plum tree in full bloom against a skyblue
background. Varying tints of
brown petrified wood, arranged to give
shadings of natural appearance, form
trunk and branches of the tree, and
each petal in the many dozen tiny
flowers is a clear milk-white. White
flowers might seem a simple matter in
a world full of white rocks, but agate
chippings from Duckwater contain
many shades of white, and for her
plum blossoms Jo Roberts could use
no stone having even the slightest offcolor
tint. As a result, she often
rambled over the desert throughout an
entire afternoon without finding enough
white chippings for more than one or
two petals of the many hundreds
needed to fashion this lovely tree.
Other notable pictures she has made
from rocks include one of broken
wagon wheels beside a desert trail,
mallard ducks on a pond, a rearing
horse, water lilies on a mountain lake
and a jungle tiger.
Some other stone colors are as hard
to find as pure white. Sky blue, for
instance, is scarce, as is the clear bright
green needed for leaves. Under no
circumstance, however, does Mrs.
Roberts resort to artificial coloring, and
only once did she use colored glass.
"Since it is made from silica sand,
even man-made glass is a product of
the earth, and I argued with myself
that it would be all right to use it.
But I never felt right about it," laughed
Jo. "Every time I looked at that picture
and saw the colored glass I felt
as if I had cheated—and I never used
glass in my pictures again."
Jo Roberts' work enjoys the staunch
support of her entire family. Every
member of the clan is firmly convinced
that Jo's work would be a challenge
to any of the old masters. Husband
Frank and daughter Mabel climbed
on the bandwagon several years ago
by purchasing complete lapidary equipment.
Installed in their home and operated
by gasoline-generated electricity,
the outfit has produced some of the
most beautiful cabochons and slab
material in the state.
Despite remoteness of its location—
135 miles from Tonopah and 65 miles
from Ely—the Roberts' ranch attracts
visitors from every part of the nation
and from every walk of life. Regardless
of what they come seeking in the
way of natural desert attractions, the
Duckwater vicinity usually can supply
it. The 100-square-mile area around
the Roberts' home probably contains
a greater variety of gem stones than
any other in the country. Here are
located jasper, opal, fluorescent chalcedony,
geode and crystal fields, fossils
of a dozen varieties, abandoned mines,
ghost towns, volcanic craters and lava
beds, the eighth largest meteor crater
in the world, Indian petroglyphs and
graves, emigrant trails and campsites,
and dozens of other points of interest
which Frank and Jo delight in visiting
and exploring.
But, despite all their searching in
the past 45 years, the Roberts have
never succeeded in locating the source
of the beautiful agate used in the arrow
chippings still so plentiful in the valley.
So long as this deposit remains
lost, Frank and Jo will have a wonderful
excuse to ramble over the hills—
and so long as she is able to make
these trips, Great-Grandmother Roberts
expects to go on gathering agate
chips and creating more beautiful
Studies in Stones.
DESERT MAGAZINE

ON DESERT TRAILS WITH A NATURALIST -- XL
Parasites of
the Desert World ...
There are no villains in Nature's
eyes, for all of her children must
live as best they can. Plants that
take their nourishment from other
plants may not be regarded as
among the desertland's most
praiseworthy inhabitants, but they
are interesting and often beautiful
members of the flora.
By EDMUND C. JAEGER, D.Sc.
Curator of Plants
Riverside Municipal Museum
Drawings by the author
HUNDRED and fifty years
ago Sir Stamford Raffles, English
governor of Sumatra, in company
with botanist Dr. Joseph Arnold,
discovered the largest flower in the
world while exploring the tree jungles
of that island.
It was a fungus-like plant with no
proper stem (only a superficial rhizome),
no leaves and but a single
three-foot wide, 20 pound flower lying
flat on the ground. There were no
petals on this astounding flower. Five
Dodder
thick-lobed flesh-colored sepals surrounding
a circular central cup a foot
in diameter, took their place. A strong
odor like that of putrid flesh attracted
flies which carried on the work of
cross-fertilization.
Close examination revealed that this
"all flower" plant was a parasite on the
stems and roots of the tropical vine
called Cissus. This amazing parasite
plant was named Rafflesia arnoldi to
honor its two discoverers and placed
in a special family of its own, Rafflesiaceae.
An American botanist, George Thurber,
found by contrast the smallest
flowering plant in the world — and
strangely enough it was a member of
that same family, Rafflesiaceae. Thurber
was collecting plants in arid southern
Arizona below the Gila River near
its junction with the Colorado, when
he noticed on the purple-gray stems
of a leguminous Dalea emoryi shrub
numerous small dark brown scaly nodules
each about the size of a grain of
barley. They were stemless, leafless
parasites consisting almost wholly of
a flower made only of scaly sepals
surrounding a short club-shaped or
sperical central part. The unique
pygmy among plants was named Pilostyles
thurberi.
This midget parasite which flowers
in April has since been collected in
western Imperial County in California.
Recently Lloyd Mason Smith brought
me some specimens he found growing
on shrubs on the borders of sand dunes
about 75 miles south of the International
border on the road to San Felipe
in Baja California. Last December I
saw it on the barren rock and sand
deserts in extreme northwest Sonora.
One of the mysteries concerning
Pilostyles is its means of propagation.
How do the numerous exceedingly
small seeds get on the rather smooth
bark of the host plant? What causes
so many of them, once on the bark,
to remain there until favorable conditions
arise for their germination? How
does the tiny embryonic plant, which
appears like a mere microscopic thread,
penetrate the tough dalea bark so its
haustoria—the small highly specialized
roots—can get nourishment from the
foster parent? These are fascinating
problems for some young naturalist to
solve.
Among desert plants of the morning
glory family (Convolvulaceae) are
those curious parasites, the dodders or
love-vines. They are wholly destitute
of chlorophyll, except in the embryonic
stage, and attach themselves to their
host plants by twining their numerous
thread-like orange or yellow stems
about them, and then penetrate the
bark with their haustoria.
Orobanche
AUGUST, 1957 27

By means of these specialized organs
of absorption they take up water and
other nutritive materials they need. In
the spring of the year when the shrubs
are full of sap and have tender shoots,
the dodders (called Cuscutas by the
botanists) are conspicuous because of
their tangled leafless filiform stems
which in large masses are draped over
and among the stems of such desert
shrubs as brittle-bush, creosote, cheeseweed
and rabbit brush. The most common
of these is the lemon-yellow Cuscuta
denticulata. It is widely spread
on both the Great Basin and Sonoran
deserts.
On shrubs adapted to saline soils,
such as grow on the margins of dry
lakes — saltbushes, iodine bush, inkweed
and Russian thistle—grows a
desert dodder called Cuscuta salina.
Unlike other dodders it is unique in
that it is able to thrive on saps rich
in salts and alkalies. Its small white
flowers, shaped like shallow bells and
arranged in close clusters, give rise to
numerous conical capsules, each with
a tiny black seed within.
Last June while traveling over the
rough and stony desert roads just north
of Calmalli in the mid-peninsula of
Baja California, I came onto a great
thicket of elephant trees {Desert, Nov.
'56). From a distance they had a
strange appearance and as I drew
nearer I could see that there were
large clumps of gray material scattered
about on the tortuous leafless branchlets.
These were huge masses of dried
stout stems of a dodder. It was the
same kind of love-vine which Dr. T.
S. Brandegee had first observed on the
newly discovered elephant tree, Veatchia
discolor, many years ago. Accordingly
he named it Cucurbita Veatchii.
The dodder plants I saw had doubtlessly
infested these trees during some
long ago rainy season and during the
subsequent years of drouth still hung
on in their dried state. Just how this
parasite gets a foothold on the very
smooth annually-shed bark of the elephant
tree is a question no one yet has
answered.
The seeds of some cuscutas germinate
on the ground, others on the
branches of the trees and shrubs they
parasitize. In neither case do the
young seedlings have functional roots.
When the filiform embryo, which is
spirally coiled in the fleshy albumen
of the seed, breaks forth it immediately
begins to move about in its efforts to
find a host. If the search is at first:
unsuccessful the seedling is still able to
grow and creep a short distance farther
at the expense of the nourishing material
drawn from the other extremity
of the filament which dies off as the
growing end lengthens.
Of all strange appearing desert plants
there are none that pique the curiosity
more than the fleshy-stemmed broomrapes
or orobanches and the cancerroots
or pholismas.
After winter and spring rains or
sometimes after summer cloudbursts
of major proportions, we see the orobanches
thrusting their thick fleshy
amethyst-colored flower shoots upward
through the sands and generally close
to some shrub from whose roots they
steal nourishment.
Even as they poke their scaly heads
above ground they begin to bloom, the
Pholisma
purple flower buds having begun to
form sometime before emergence. The
desert-dwelling Indians used to pull
up the six to eight inch stems and
roast them on a bed of creosote coals.
They found them both palatable and
nutritious. The late Dr. Walter T.
Swingle told me on a number of occasions
of seeing the Colorado Desert
Cahuillas using them, and he felt that
some day we too probably will realize
their food value.
The very fast growing orobanche
has no leaves and no chlorophyll. The
stems are covered with large elongate
scales and the purple gaping flowers,
arranged in a spike, are more or less
curved, the upper lip two-lobed. Soon
after flowering one sees the large globu-
lar seed vessels, each with an unusual
number of small black seeds. When
ripe they are scattered far afield by
wind, water and other means. To
germinate, these seeds must somehow
get beneath the soil, perhaps through
cracks, to the roots of the host plants.
Secretion from these roots provide the
stimulation to cause the seeds to start
growing. Orobanche cooped generally
is found as a parasite on burro-weed
(Franseria dumosa). Occasionally it
attaches its suckers to the shallow roots
of barrel cacti or cholla.
Recently, it was discovered that orobanche
is parasitizing tomato plants in
the Coachella Valley of California.
Here it has the potentiality of a baneful
agricultural pest for millions of
young tomato plants are sent from this
area for propagation in many parts of
the United States. Agricultural inspectors
are much concerned about letting
the growers ship out their product lest
they spread this serious parasite to
other regions.
Not so large but no less odd in appearance
is the handsome purpleflowered
Colorado Desert cancer-root,
Pholisma arenarium. It too is a root
parasite and without green coloring
matter. The thick brittle watery stems
often are multiple and so we see compact
groups of the elongate conical
flower heads. Each flaring tubular
flower has a conspicuous creped white
border and is split into five to seven
lobes. The seed vessels open to release
numerous one - seeded nutlets.
Although having many superficial resemblances
to orobanche, pholisma is
not even closely related to it. It is
parasitic on roots of cheese - bush
(Hymenoclea), verbena (A bronia),
rabbit brush (Chrysothamnus) and
some of the wild buckwheats.
Closely brigaded with pholisma is
the unique sand-food, Ammobroma
sonorae. It parasitizes several of the
perennial plants of the great sand
dunes of northwestern Sonora and adjacent
southeastern California. Each
plant consists of an elongate simple
stout stem which comes up from the
root of its host through five or six
inches of sand and ends at the surface
as a close-sitting thick grayish velvety
saucer - shaped or button - like head,
thickly dotted with small purple flowers.
This flower head may be one and
one-half to five inches across. So well
does it match the color of the sand, it
may go entirely unobserved.
The Yuma Indians who lived near
the head of the Gulf of California
eagerly sought out this plant. After
boiling or roasting, it is very sweet
with much of the flavor of well-baked
yam.
When in early spring our travels
20 DESERT MAGAZINE

ifcr\f // fv. «.t /\ J)
Castilleja
take us into upland brushy areas of
rocky desert terrain, we often are delightfully
startled by flashes of brilliant
red along the way. The Indian
paintbrush (Castilleja) has come into
flower and for many days will lend
its cheerful touch of color. However,
it is not the flowers that are red, but
the incised floral bracts or modified
leaves at the bases of the rather small
yellow or purple-lipped flowers.
The stems of paintbrushes are found
near to or mingled with the branches
of low shrubs. This is because they
not only need protection of the stiff
twiggy branches, but also because they
spring directly upward from the roots
of the shrubs which they parasitize.
From the host's roots they take only
water and minerals. Actually, they are
only semi-parasites since they manufacture,
with the aid of the chlorophyll
in their stems and leaves, most of the
sugars they need.
There are many kinds of paintbrushes
and almost all are showy.
They are browsed both by cattle and
sheep. One species, Castilleja chromosa,
is said to be deleterious because
it takes up considerable amounts of
poisonous selenium from the soil. The
Hopi Indians eat the flowers of one of
the mountain species and they also use
the plant in ceremonial rites. Most of
the paintbrushes are herbaceous peren-
Pilostyles. A: enlarged male flower;
B: female flower.
nials. The generic name Castilleja
honors the Spanish botanist, D. Castilleja.
Mistletoes, especially certain kinds
with leaves reduced to mere scales, are
among the stranger parasitic plants of
our deserts. The California mistletoe,
Phoradendron caliform'ca, with its reddish
leafless often pendulous stems and
coral-pink to white berries, is confined
mostly to leguminous trees such as
honey mesquite, screwbean, catsclaw,
ironwood and palo verde. Occasionally
it is found on the branches of creosote
and ocotillo. The infestations in
honey mesquite and ironwood are
often so severe that the trees eventually
are killed. In ironwood trees the
mistletoes often cause the formation of
huge spindle-shaped tumors weighing
many pounds, even up to a hundred
or more. The fusiform swellings are
especially noticeable when the limbs
become devoid of leaves, their vitality
having been sapped by the parasite.
In the desert mountains another
mistletoe, Phoradendron densum,
forms compact ball-like clusters in
scrub junipers. It is a handsome species
with elongate green leaves and is
confined to California and Oregon. In
Arizona, west Texas and Sonora, a
mistletoe, Phoradendron macrophyllum,
with well-developed large green
leaf blades, grows in great masses on
the smaller limbs of Fremont's cottonwood.
Having green leaves it can
make some of its food, supplementing
its diet by taking water and minerals
from the trees on which it grows.
Some good must be said of mistletoes.
They supply food and drink to
several desert birds, among them the
aristocratic phainopepla and handsome
Gambel quail. In many of the desert
places this may be the only source of
water and much of the food these birds
Ammobroma
get in summer, autumn and early winter.
The birds return the favor by
distributing the mistletoe seeds.
WRITE TO WINSLOW C OF C
FOR SNAKE DANCE DATES
This year's Hopi Snake Dances will
be held at Walpi on the First Mesa and
Mishongnovi, Second Mesa.
Exact dates for the dances, usually
held in late August, will be set by the
Hopis 16 days prior to the event.
Desert readers who would like to be
notified by mail of these dates can
write to the Winslow Chamber of Commerce,
Winslow, Arizona, which will
forward this information as soon as it
is released by the tribal leaders.
Auto caravans will leave the chamber
office at 9 a.m. each morning of
the dance and chartered bus trips are
being arranged at a round-trip cost
of $5 per passenger. Bus and motor
caravans will return to Winslow immediately
following the dances and
are expected to be back at that city
at 7 p.m.
Photographing the ceremonials is
not permitted, but many camera subjects
await the visitors enroute to the
dances. A box lunch, hat and a pillow
to sit on are suggested items to take
on the trip.
AUGUST, 1957 29

Richard V. Van Valkenburgh, for
many years a writer for Desert Magazine,
died following a heart attack at
Window Rock, Arizona, where he was
in the service of the Navajo Tribal
Council, in June. Funeral services
were held at Ft. Defiance June 21.
He was 53.
When Desert Magazine was started
in November, 1937, Van Valkenburgh
was an anthropologist in the employ
of the U. S. Bureau of Indian
Affairs at Ft. Defiance. He immediately
began submitting manuscripts for
publication, and his knowledge of Navajo
history and his close contact with
the tribesmen gave his stories an exceptional
interest. During the 11 years
from 1938 to 1948 he supplied material
for 39 feature articles for Desert
readers. He spoke the Navajo language,
and his interest in the Indians
was so genuine he soon gained their
complete confidence.
Leaving the Indian Service in 1944
he moved to Tucson where he was
engaged in newspaper, radio and research
work until 1951 when for a
year he made his home in Santa Barbara.
In 1952 the Navajo Tribal Council
established a legal and research department
preparatory to the filing of a
claim against Uncle Sam for lands and
rights which they believed had been
taken away from them in the settlement
of western United States. Van
Valkenburgh was offered a position
as chief archeologist for the tribe, and
within a few months had several field
parties carrying on surveys and research
to determine the extent of the
original holdings of the tribesmen—
before the present reservation was
established. More recently he was
supervisor of land use and survey for
the tribe.
With offices at Window Rock, he
continued in this and similar work for
the Tribal Council until his sudden
death. His passing is mourned by both
the tribesmen with whom he has been
closely associated, and white friends
everywhere. His widow, Ruth Van
Valkenburgh, who has been a valued
associate and secretary, plans for the
present to remain at Gallup and Window
Rock. Burial was in the Navajo
Cemetery.
Hete 0nd Then on ik Desett...
ARIZONA
Apaches in Water Fight • . .
McNARY—A superior court order
issued on a petition of the Salt River
Valley Water Users Association asking
an injunction against the White Mountain
Indian Tribe's building of a dam
across Trout Creek apparently is being
ignored by the Indians. The tribal attorney
said government solicitors have
advised the Apaches that no state or
county court has jurisdiction in the issue.
The Water Users obtained a similar
court order last September, but
the Apaches ignored it too. They plan
to use the impounded waters for fishing
and recreation.
• • •
Indian Incomes Taxable . . .
PHOENIX—Indians living in Arizona
are subject to the state's income
tax laws, according to a long-awaited
opinion by Attorney General Robert
Morrison. A tribal council also is liable
to income taxes as a corporation,
Morrison further ruled. Morrison suggested
a friendly test suit "so that the
courts can pass on this opinion . . .
because this opinion will, without any
question, be unacceptable to the Indian
tribes."—Phoenix Gazette
Hunting Dates Announced . . .
PHOENIX—The state Game and
Fish Commission recognized the growing
importance of bow and arrow hunting
by opening almost two-thirds of
the state to archery hunts. Authorized
was a pre-season bow and arrow hunt
from October 12-27 in all of zone I,
south of the Colorado River except for
special game management areas in the
East and West Sitgreaves Forest, Bill
Williams and Mingus Mountain.
• • •
Temporary School at Damsite . . .
PAGE — Arizona's newest school
expects to open next fall with 400 pupils
whose fathers will be employed
at Glen Canyon Dam. A temporary
school building to house the pupils is
planned, to be built with federal funds
since the area is unorganized territory
with no assessed valuation. As the
town grows, a peak enrollment of 2000
pupils is expected.—Arizona News
• • •
Navajos Establish Record Budget...
WINDOW ROCK — The Navajo
Tribal Council approved a record $12,-
201,231 budget-—twice as large as the
current budget and financed by the
$33,000,000 in oil and gas leases re-
Born in Texas and moving to New
Mexico when he was 21, D. D. Sharp,
author of "Prayer Stick Vengeance"
in this month's magazine, has lived in
the Southwest most of his life.
The move to New Mexico (Clayton)
was to homestead 160 acres of land,
which he later gave back to Uncle Sam
after he had become "rich in experience
and down to a dollar and fifty cents"
in cash. Sharp then went to work for
the Santa Fe railway.
As he relates in his unusual true
experience story, he is at present com-
fortably settled in the Sandia Mountains
east of Albuquerque.
* * *
Perhaps no other resident of the
Desert Southwest is as qualified to
write about the planting of desert natives
in the home garden as is Ted
Hutchison, nurseryman at Calico. His
"Red Blossoms in Your Desert Garden"
appears in this month's Desert.
From 1946 to last year, he had his
nursery at Barstow where he specialized
in native plants. Recently he
moved his business to the ghost town
of Calico and added cacti and succulents
to his stock.
His hobbies, besides plants, include
rock polishing, branding irons, desert
characters and tall tales.
cently obtained by the tribe. The new
budget provides for a scholarship fund
of $5,000,000; $1,000,000 for land
purchases; and $500,000 each for a
tribal office building and community
centers throughout the vast reservation.
Other items include industrial and
water development, farm training, and
health and welfare grants.—Phoenix
Gazette
• • •
Rules for Page Businesses . . .
PAGE — The Federal Government
announced terms for operating businesses
in the Glen Canyon Dam community
of Page. The U. S. Bureau of
Reclamation said firms seeking to open
businesses in Page must first obtain
permits to operate, then lease government
land for construction of buildings.
Applications for permits can be
obtained from the bureau office in
Kanab, Utah. Here are some of the
rules: Only three permits will be issued
for each general class of business
during the construction period; exclusive
permits will be issued for communications
facilities, utilities and an
airport; the general contractor will be
permitted to operate a commissary,
dormitories and mess halls; the government
will not erect commercial buildings;
off street parking required for all
businesses; professional persons also
must obtain operation permits.—Phoenix
Gazette
30 DESERT MAGAZINE

Indian Land Development . . .
PARKER—The United Land and
Development Company of Phoenix predicted
that its planned $30,000,000
irrigation development of idle lands on
the Colorado River Indian Reservation
will transform the area into a
thriving economic unit which in only
a few years will support 25,000 people.
The concern promoted the idea of irrigation
development of the lands
which in turn has prompted the U. S.
Department of Interior to seek bids for
a 25-year lease on the lands.—Phoenix
Gazette
• • •
Gulf Seaport Talk Hit ...
WASHINGTON, D. C —Periodic
careless talk about a possible U. S.
port on the Gulf of California hurts
U. S.-Mexican relations, James Minotto
of Phoenix and former mutual
security administrator in Portugal, told
a senate foreign relations panel. He
said the Mexican people regard such
talk as we would the Mexican government's
asking for the purchase of a
port like San Diego. In 1955 Arizona
created a committee to study the establishment
of a seaport in the vicinity of
Yuma.—Phoenix Gazette
• • •
CALIFORNIA
Borrego, Anza Parks Merged . . .
BORREGO SPRINGS — The Borrego
and Anza Desert state parks were
combined on July 1 and facilities increased
to make the area one of the
largest state parks in the nation. There
are over 425,000 acres in the combined
parks to be known as the Anza-Borrego
State Park. Clyde E. Strickler, supervisor
of the park, said the new arrangement
will provide more protection and
better service and public contact in the
two areas that are similar in terrain
and recreational opportunities. — Los
Angeles Times
• • •
Council Moves to Save Palms . . .
IDYLLWILD — Following the recent
burning of Willis Palms the Desert
Protective Council adopted a resolution
designed to protect other desert
palm oases from Biskra to the Chuckawallas
in Coachella Valley. The resolution
was wired to the state park
commission and to state senators and
assemblymen. In other action the
council recommended to the State Fish
and Game Department that golden
eagles be added to the list of animals
removed from the predator list. —
Desert Trail
Book Manuscripts
by cooperative publisher who offers authors
early publication, higher royalty, national
distribution, and beautifully designed books.
All subjects welcomed. Write, or send your
MS directly.
GREENWICH BOOK PUBLISHERS, INC.
Atten. Mr. Slocnm, 489 Fifth Are., N.Y., N.Y.
Public Land Auctions Halted . . .
BARSTOW — Government sources
disclosed that an immediate halt has
been ordered to the direct sale and
auction of government desert land parcels
by the Bureau of Land Management.
It was expected that the moratorium
on the controversial auction
method of disposing surplus government
land in two-and-a-half and five
acre parcels will continue until there
has been a complete Congressional investigation.
Meanwhile announcement
was made in Arizona that 99 small
tracts of land were auctioned off for
$75,580—a sum $54,345 more than
the appraised value of the properties.
• • •
Parachute Test Area . . .
EL CENTRO—A Navy spokesman
said Imperial Valley should become
the nation's one and only center for
military parachute testing and developing.
"There is no place in the world
as well suited for parachute testing as
the Imperial Valley," he said. At present,
huge transports based at the Imperial
Valley field are dropping twoand-a-half
ton trucks, 155-millimeter
howitzers and 20,000 pound tractors
by experimental parachutes on the test
grounds in the Superstition Mountains.
—Calexico Chronicle
• • •
Navy Warns Rockhounds . . .
EL CENTRO—The Navy issued a
warning to all rock hunters, curiosity
seekers and junk collectors in Imperial
County to give its gunnery, rocketry
and bombing ranges a wide berth. The
possibility of setting off live ammunition
is an ever-present danger, the
Navy said.—Calexico Chronicle
• • •
Salton Sea Gets Wildlife Food . . .
SALTON SEA — A shipment of
shoal grass plants from Texas was introduced
into the Salton Sea as part
of a Department of Fish and Game
experiment to help waterfowl hunting
in the sea. The grass grows in shallow
saline water along the Texas Gulf coast
in conditions similar to those found in
Salton Sea.—Calexico Chronicle
• • •
NEVADA
Navy to Activate Air Base . . .
TONOPAH—The Navy confirmed
earlier announced plans to activate the
old Tonopah air base for use as a
SAN JUAN and COLORADO
RIVER EXPEDITIONS
Enjoy exploration, safe adventure and
scenic beauty in the gorgeous canyons of
Utah and Arizona. Staunch boats, experienced
rivermen. For 1957 summer schedule
or charter trips anytime write to—
I. FRANK WRIGHT
MEXICAN HAT EXPEDITIONS
Blanding, Utah
PROSPECTING PARTY
Two men are needed to complete
a prospecting party to
hunt for several lost gold and
silver deposits and also to prospect
for other ores at the same
time. Also to take scenic and
novel photos.
I will supply all equipment needed,
including the 4-wheel-drive pickup truck
pictured above. Each of the two men
who go with me must supply a suitcase
full of extra clothing for himself, a rollup
mattress and some blankets for himself,
some canned groceries for himself and
$175 per month to be paid to me to
cover operating expenses.
I will sleep on a cot in the truck and
the other two men will sleep in a 9'x9'
umbrella tent that I will supply. We
will go to mineralized areas and prospect
for gold, silver, copper, mercury,
lead, zinc, tin, uranium, thorium, barium,
tungsten, manganese, chromium, titanium,
vanadium, nickel, cobalt, lithium,
beryllium, selenium, rare earths, gypsum,
mica, asbestos, talc, jade, gem
stones and anything else we can find.
Any net return we get from an ore
deposit will be divided into quarters
and one quarter will go to each of the
three members of the prospecting party.
One half of,the fourth quarter will go
to that member (any one of the three)
who takes over the responsibility of
staking out and recording the mining
claim and doing assessment work on it
and finding a buyer for it. The other
half of the fourth quarter will go to the
Salvation Army, the most reliable and
kindly charitable agency with which I
am acquainted.
I am 62 years old and not active
enough to walk over two miles per day
but I can supply equipment and plans
and test all samples collected. I have
a geiger counter, a gamma ray detector,
an ultra-violet light for tungsten and
mercury, a density balance, blow pipe
chemicals, ore samples, field glasses,
magnifiers, cameras, picks, shovels,
hatchets, tools, tapes, compasses, an
electric shaver, a typewriter, a gun, a
gasoline stove, a lantern, a folding
table, camp stools and dozens of maps.
If nothing more, this prospecting trip
can be a very pleasant and inexpensive
vacation, while there is always the
chance that it will bring prosperity to
everyone. Also desert air and sunshine
can improve the health of- anyone. I
am employed as an engineer at present
but I can get a leave of absence whenever
it is needed. Anyone interested in
a carefree prospecting trip should write
me and tell me when and for how long
he can go. Also a larger party or other
arrangements would be considered. Address
CLINTON DAVIDSON. 1601 N.
Long Beach Blvd., Compton, California.
AUGUST, 1957 31

THE DESERT TRADING POST
Classified Advertising in This Section Costs 12c a Word, $2.00 Minimum Per Issue
BOOKS—MAGAZINES
OUT-OF-PRINT books at lowest prices!
You name it—we find it! Western Americana,
desert and Indian books a specialty.
Send us your wants. No obligation. International
Bookfinders, Box 3003-D,
Beverly Hills, California.
HAVE REAL fun with desert gems, minerals
and rocks. The rockhound's howto-do-it
magazine tells how. One year
(12 issues) only $3.00. Sample 25c. Gems
and Minerals, Box 687-D, Mentone, Cal.
WESTERN TRAVEL Books: Send for
our mapped list of Books on Western
Travel and Rock Collecting. 101 titles
to choose from. Scenic Guides, Arizona
$1.00; California $1.50; Colorado $1.50;
Nevada $1.50; Oregon $1.50. Save by
mail! We pay postage. Scenic Guides,
Box 288, Susanville, California.
JUST PUBLISHED — "Lost Treasure" by
R. G. Ferguson, gives names, dates, places
where gold was lost and tells how to look
for it. Includes many exciting tales of
pirates' gold, outlaws' loot. Send $2.75
for your copy. Money back in 5 days if
not satisfied. Vantage Press, 120 W. 31
Street, Dept. R, New York 1.
CLUBS—ORGANIZATIONS
ARE YOU interested in prospecting for
minerals, or rockhunting? Write for literature
to United Prospectors, IQIV2 E.
Edgeware, Los Angeles 26, California.
INDIAN GOODS
FIVE FINE Prehistoric Indian arrowheads
$2.00. Perfect stone tomahawk $2.20. Effigy
pipe $5.00. Perfect flint thunderbird
$3.00. Flint fish hook $3.00. List free.
Five offers for only $12.00. Arrowhead,
Glenwood, Arkansas.
YES, 100 TOY
SOLDIERS FOR $1
To introduce our line of molded plastic
toys, we'll ship you 100 Toy Soldiers for
only $1. This big colorful assortment includes
4 Riflemen, 8 Machine-gunners, 8
Sharpshooters, 4 Infantrymen, 8 Officers,
8 Cannon, 4 Bazookamen, 4 Marksmen, 4
Tanks, 4 Trucks, 4 Jeeps, 4 Battleships, 4
Cruisers, 4 Sailors, 8 WAVEs, 8 WACs, 4
Bombers and 8 Jet Planes. Each toy is
completely assembled, designed to scale,
and measures up to 4Va". Order several
sets NOW; your kiddies will love them.
Send $1.00 plus 25c for postage and
handling for each set of 100 toys to:
DEREK DUNHAM, 2101 South Ogden St.,
Denver 10, Colorado.
AUTHENTIC INDIAN Jewelry, Navajo
Rugs, War Bonnets, Squaw Dresses,
Squaw Boots, Fine old Indian collection.
Pow-Wow Indian Trading Post, 19967
Ventura Blvd., East Woodland Hills, Cal.
SELLING 100,000 Indian relics. 100 nice
ancient arrowheads $25.00. Small grooved
stone tomahawk $2.00. Large grooved
stone tomahawk $3.00. Perfect spearhead
over 8 inches long $20.00. Flint
scalping knife $1.00. Indian skull $25.00.
Ancient water bottle from grave $7.00.
List free. Lear's, Glenwood, Arkansas.
FINE RESERVATION-MADE Navajo and
Zuni jewelry. Old pawn. Hundreds of
fine old baskets, moderately priced, in
excellent condition. Navajo rugs, old and
new, Bayeta, native dyes, Two Gray Hills.
Artifacts and gems. A collector's paradise!
Open daily 10 to 5:30, closed Mondays,
Buffalo Trading Post, Highway 18,
Apple Valley, California.
5 INDIAN ARROWHEADS and strand
trade beads, $2. Have tomahawks, pipes,
warbonnets, beadwork. Paul Summers,
Canyon, Texas.
MAPS
SECTIONIZED COUNTY maps — San
Bernardino $1.50; Riverside $1; Imperial,
small $1, large $2; San Diego 50c; Inyo,
western half $1.25, eastern half, $1.25;
Kern $1.25; other California counties
$1.25 each. Nevada counties $1 each.
Topographic maps of all mapped western
areas. Westwide Maps Co., 114 W. Third
St., Los Angeles, California.
REAL ESTATE
NEAR ANZA, house, barn, well, $3300. 40
acres or less, $300 an acre. 971 Barbour,
Banning, California.
CHOICE HOMESITES and acreage. Salton
Sea vicinity. Low as $1495, $95 down,
$25 month. Pon & Co., Box 546 DA,
Azusa, California.
NICE SHADY oasis planted to grapefruit,
tangerines. Good house, swimming pool,
33 acres, Coachella Valley. $85,000.
Ronald L. Johnson, broker, Box 162,
Thermal, California.
NOT "FOR A SONG" but a song goes with
it: Pre-Cambrian granite soil, mountains
and lush desert. Elevation 2400 to 3500.
Dry, sunny, dust-free climate. Near
Phoenix and Scottsdale. Good roads,
water. Let us show you Cavecreek and
Carefree Town, $300 per acre up, terms.
Darlington & Palmer, Box 214, Cavecreek,
Arizona.
18 ACRE RANCH on beautiful Oak Creek.
2 houses, barn and chicken house. Good
well. Lee Burkett, Cottonwood, Arizona.
MONTANA SPORTSMAN'S paradise:
Fabulous fishing in 25 acre private lake
stocked with rainbow, cutthroat, and eastern
brooktrout, surrounded by 157 acre
tract. Plentiful game. Privacy and seclusion.
Accessible year 'round. Snug four
room log house not modern. Ideal summer
home, or potential resort or dude
ranch. Priced reasonable. Write D. C.
Besly, Route 1, Troy, Montana.
LAPIDARY JEWELRY store, machinery,
fixtures, stock, inventory $3300 for $1800
cash. Rent $64.50. Large store established
14 years. Retiring. Fine location
King Harbor. Chapman Stone Arts, 132
South El Paseo, Redondo Beach, Calif.
MISCELLANEOUS
GHOST TOWN ITEMS: Sun-colored glass,
amethyst to royal purple; ghost railroads
materials, tickets; limited odd items from
camps of the '60s. Write your interest—
Box 64-D, Smith, Nevada.
LADY GODIVA "The World's Finest
Beautifier." For women who wish to
become beautiful, for women who wish
to remain beautiful. An outstanding desert
cream. For information, write or call
Lola Barnes, 963 N. Oakland, Pasadena
6, Calif., or phone SYcamore 4-2378.
ROCKS FROM deep underground: Core
specimens taken from tests drilled for oil
in West Texas. May be polished for
paper weights, pen stands, etc. One dollar
per specimen. Corox, P. O. Box 2933,
Midland, Texas.
FOSSILS. 12 different for $2. Other prices
on request. Will buy, sell or trade. Museum
of Fossils, Clifford H. Earl, P.O.
Box 188, Sedona, Arizona.
NATURE'S DESERT Tea soothes the
nerves, induces relaxation. Made from
sun dried desert herbs. Used for generations
by desert inhabitants as a delightful
beverage and beneficial part of their daily
diet. If you can't come to the desert,
bring the desert to you via Desert Tea.
Packed and sold by Desert Tea Co., P. O.
Box 237, Palm Springs, California. 5
ounce package $1.00 postpaid.
ASSAYS. Complete, accurate, guaranteed.
Highest quality spectrographic. Only $5
per sample. Reed Engineering, 620 S.
Inglewood Ave., Inglewood, California.
staging base for fighter plane gunnery
practice over the adjoining 1,563,000acre
bombing range also being transferred
from the Air Force to the Navy.
The Navy will begin using the range
at the rate of 4000 sorties a year as
soon as the transfer is complete, and
later, probably 1960, step up to 24,-
000 sorties a year, it was disclosed.—
Tonopah Times-Bonanza
• • •
Women Ask Bomb Test Halt . . .
TONOPAH—Citing the possibility
that an eight-year-old Nevada boy who
died last fall of leukemia may have
contracted the disease as a direct result
of playing in the area where an
immense radioactive cloud hovered for
hours, the Tonopah and Goldfield Business
and Professional Women's Club
issued a vehement plea to halt the current
Nevada nuclear tests. The AEC
said none of the blasts in the current
series will produce as much fallout as
did some of the 1955 shots, however
an AEC spokesman admitted that
Tonopah received a "slightly" heavier
dose from the atomic test of May 28
than was at first reported.—Tonopah
Times-Bonanza
32 DESERT MAGAZINE

Japanese Quail Released . . .
CARSON CITY — Nevada joined
several other states in the simultaneous
release of Japanese (Coturnix) quail.
A cooperative study is planned after
the birds are in the field. Since the
Coturnix is a migratory bird, officials
believe the cooperative study will
greatly facilitate the establishment of
a migration pattern for the birds. —
Nevada State Journal
State Leads in Liquor Use . . .
CARSON CITY—A beverage industry
study reveals that Nevada's
1957 first quarter liquor consumption
of 1.2 gallons per person was greatest
in the nation. California was second
with 0.45 gallons consumed per inhabitant.
California, however, led the
nation in volume of consumption —
5,076,076 gallons in January-February-March,
1957.—Territorial Enterprise
Cave Passageways Surveyed . . .
BAKER — National Park Service
personnel began a survey to plot the
direction and position of the passageways
and caverns of Lehman Caves
National Monument. Purpose of the
project is to determine the possibility
of locating a suitable exit from the
cave. "Such a secondary outlet will
provide for greater convenience to
cave visitors and will increase the ease
with which the ever increasing numbers
of visitors may be guided through the
natural cave," the survey chief said.
NEW MEXICO
Ruling Hits State Control . . .
GALLUP — A district judge has
ruled that a Navajo Indian can not be
prosecuted by the state for a traffic
offense which occurred on a federal
highway running through the reservation.
The Indian, arrested for drunk
driving, argued successfully that the
state has no jurisdiction over traffic
offenses committed by Indians on an
Indian reservation. The highway in
question was U.S. 666 which bisects
the reservation between Gallup and
Farmington. The state indicated that
it will appeal the ruling.—New Mexican
Industry Needs Skilled Indians . . .
LAWRENCE, Kansas—Superintendent
Solon G. Ayers of Haskell Institute
said that the school no longer has
to look for jobs for its Indian gradu-
KENT FROST JEEP TRIPS
Into the Famous Utah Needles Area
Junction of the Green and Colorado rivers;
Indian and Salt creeks; Davis, Lavandtr,
Monument, Red, Dark and White canyons;
Dead Horse and Grand View points; Hovenweep
and Bridges national monuments.
3-day or longer trips for 2-6 person parties
—$25 daily per person. Includes sleeping
bags, transportation, guide service* meals.
Write KENT FROST, Monticello, Utah.
ates. "Our trouble is in rilling the
requests. We have to pick and choose,"
he declared. Last year every one of
the 114 vocational students was hired
by commencement day for an average
$3100 annual wage. Few of the Haskell
graduates return to their reservations
to live, Ayers said.—New Mexican
To Battle Water Problem . . .
ROSWELL—Terming the nation's
water problem as a potential "economic
cancer on the future growth and
prosperity" of the U.S., the non-profit
Southspring Foundation, based on the
historic old Chisum Ranch, recently
was organized to aid in the relief of
the water crisis. The agricultural research
organization hopes to focus the
nation's attention on the problem. —
New Mexican
Mexican Trout Imported . . .
TAOS—New Mexico and California
fisheries men are experimenting with
a batch of Mexican rainbow trout
thought to be able to survive in water
temperatures up to the middle-80 degrees
Fahrenheit. So far the fish have
not produced eggs. The regular strain
of rainbow trout in most waters today
can only stand as much as 53 degrees
Fahrenheit and still produce eggs. The
fish are at the Red River Hatchery at
Taos; the Wildlife Service Hatchery at
Truth or Consequences; and the California
Fish and Game Department
Hatchery at Fillmore.—New Mexican
UTAH
Glen Dam Work Unavailable . . .
KANAB — Reclamation Commissioner
W. A. Dexheimer warned that
employment is not immediately available
at the Glen Canyon damsite and
furthermore none except a few engineering
and heavy construction workers
will be hired for many months to
come. Dexheimer said both Kanab
and Flagstaff now are crowded and
their resources are taxed to handle
existing needs of workers already in
the area. Welfare and law enforcement
problems were reportedly increasing in
Kanab, due mainly to an influx of
transient laborers seeking employment
at the damsite. Sharp increases were
noted in police arrests.
Looking for a PUBLISHER?
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would like to have published? Learn about
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booklet D. It's free.
V A N T A G E PRESS, INC.
6253 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood 28, Calif.
Mala Office: New York 1, N. Y.
Glen Canyon City Planned . . .
KANAB — A Tucson firm announced
plans to build a city that
could eventually accommodate 10,000
persons on the Utah side of the Glen
Canyon damsite, but the U. S. Reclamation
Bureau and Glen Canyon
Dam's contractors are going ahead
with plans to build the town of Page,
Arizona. Rincon Builders and Developers,
Inc., said its city, to be
known as Glen Canyon, will be 13
miles northwest of the damsite on the
Utah side of the border. The firm
has purchased 120 acres of land here
and has drilled four wells. Reclamation
Commissioner W. A. Dexheimer
termed the Glen Canyon City plan as
speculative and noted that it would be
18 months to two years before a good
road will be completed from the damsite
north to the Utah line.
It's COOL at the
Orange County
FAIR
AUGUST 9-18
Costa Mesa, California
Highway 55 between Santa Ana
and Newport Beach
• Exhibits • Gems and Minerals
• Flower Show • Rodeo
• Feature Entertainment
You'll want to keep those
MAPS
which appear each month in
Desert Magazine—maps which
will be your guide on many delightful
excursions into the great
desert playground.
Attractive loose-leaf binders embossed
in gold not only will
preserve the maps, but will be
a beautiful addition to your
home book-shelf. Each binder
holds 12 copies. Easy to insert,
they open flat.
Mailed postpaid tor
$2.00
PALM DESERT, CALIFORNIA
AUGUST, 1957 33

Debeque Dam Under Study . . .
GRAND JUNCTION, COLORA-
DO—Studies of a proposed $204,000,-
000 dam which would provide irrigation
water for 80,000 arid acres of
Utah and Colorado was underway.
The proposed Debeque Dam would
be part of the overall Upper Colorado
River Project. Tentative plans call for
construction in Debeque Canyon,
about 30 miles east of Grand Junction.
The dam would be 424-feet high and
have a capacity of 6,500,000 acre-feet
of water covering 41,000 acres. The
dam would back up Colorado River
water all the way to Rifle and inundate
the communities of Debeque and
Grand Valley.—Vernal Express
• • •
Golden Spike Site Dedicated . . .
PROMONTORY — A seven-acre
tract at Promontory containing the site
where a golden spike was driven on
May 10, 1869, in a colorful ceremony
marking the completion of the nation's
first transcontinental railway line, was
officially designated as the Golden
Spike Historic Site on May 10 of this
year. The site is north of Great Salt
Lake and 31 miles from Brigham City.
—Box Elder Journal
• • •
Life Preservers Required . . .
SALT LAKE CITY—Under a new
law recently passed by the Utah legislature,
every person in a boat on any
state water must be equipped with a
life preserver. The law further states
that the type of preserver that may
legally be used under this act must be
prescribed by the state Fish and Game
Commission.—San Juan Record
• • •
Flaming Gorge Estimates Told . . .
VERNAL—The Bureau of Reclamation's
most recent estimates show
that the Flaming Gorge Dam and Reservoir
are scheduled for completion in
1963, with initial operation of the
power plant set for January, 1962.
Appropriations needed for fiscal years
starting in 1959 amount to over $10,-
000,000 a year and more until 1963.
Total cost of construction was estimated
at $57,184,000. — Vernal Express
Find Valuable
Strategic Minerals!
Uranium—Tungsten—Zinc
Mercury—Zirconium
Outdoors for fun and profit?
Take along an ultra-violet Mineralight!
Write Dept. D for free prospecting information kit!
\ ULTRA-VIOLET PRODUCTS, INC., San Gabriel, California,
MINES and MINING
Four Corners Area . . •
Contracts were awarded for construction
of the 485-mile crude oil pipe
line from the Four Corners area to
Los Angeles. The $50,000,000 project
is an undertaking of leading oil
companies which recently formed the
Four Corners Pipe Line Company.
Construction of some sections started
in mid-June. Work on that section of
the line between the Colorado River
and Olive, California, is scheduled to
begin October 15 in order to avoid the
extreme summer temperatures. The
completed system calls for a pumping
station between Joshua Tree and
Twentynine Palms, California.—Desert
Journal
• • •
Ely, Nevada . . .
Zirconium has been discovered in
what appears to be substantial and
valuable quantities close to Highway
6 about 12 miles southwest of Ely.
Between 40 and 50 claims were staked
on the ground.-—Inland Empire Miner
• • •
Lucerne Valley, California . . .
Permanente Cement Company officially
opened its new $13,000,000
plant in Cushenbury Canyon. The
operation, with a capacity of 2,500,-
000 barrels of cement annually, is the
largest cement producer in the seven
western states. Initial permanent work
force will total approximately 180 men
and the annual payroll will exceed
$1,000,000, company officials said.—
Victor Press
• • •
Washington, D. C. . . .
Private industry now does most of
the exploration drilling for deep-seated
uranium occurrences in the United
States. Several million feet of private
drilling was done in 1956, whereas the
Federal Government's drilling was
measured in thousands of feet. —
Georsia Mineral Newsletter
$$$ TREASURE $$$
Improved metal detector finds lost or hidden
treasure, coins, gold, silver, jewelry, relics.
Profitable hobby. Also new underwater metal
detector. Detects sunken ships, outboard motors,
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Free literature.
GARDINER
ELECTRONICS
DEPT. 9
2545 E. INDIAN
SCHOOL ROAD
PHOENIX, ARIZ.
Grand Junction, Colorado . . .
Initial operation of the Atomic Energy
Commission's Grand Junction
pilot plant indicates removal of uranium
from lignite is technically possible.
The AEC said a commercial plant
capable of fairly good recovery can be
built, but the question is primarily one
of cost. Removing uranium from lignite
would be more expensive than the
cost of a conventional type process
from carnotite and other materials.—
Pioche Record • • •
New York City . . .
Floyd B. Odium's Atlas Corporation
expects to recover the costs incurred
in its uranium holdings by 1960,
"with substantial amounts of ore still
remaining to be mined." Odium predicted
that Atlas' uranium mining holdings
will produce a net cash flow after
taxes of about $8,000,000 in 1957;
$11,000,000 in 1958; and $13,000,-
000 in 1959. But the Delta Mine,
Atlas' first venture in uranium, purchased
in 1954 for $9,000,000, "is
virtually mined out," Odium said. •—-
Salt Lake Tribune
• • •
Manhattan, Nevada . . .
White Caps Gold Mining Co. is preparing
the old White Caps mine at
Manhattan for active operation. The
mine has been under water since 1935
and the shaft is being pumped out. In
its productive years, the mine yielded
$5,000,000 in gold.—Pioche Record
• • •
Grand Junction, Colorado . . .
Union Oil Company's experimental
oil shale plant on Parachute Creek in
northwest Colorado was dedicated recently
in what some industry leaders
feel is a pioneering step that may
eventually lead to establishment of a
new oil industry in this part of the
nation. The quantity of oil recoverable
from the dry, light brown and black
sedimentary rock, varies from one or
two gallons per ton of shale to as much
as 100 gallons. Recovery from the
Union Oil Company's operation is
about 30 gallons per ton. U. S. Bureau
of Mines estimates place the total U. S.
oil shale reserve at 1,260,000,000,000
barrels.—Phoenix Gazette
THE PROSPECTOR'S CATALOG
We are pleased to announce the advent of
a new Minerals Unlimited Catalog, specifically
' designed for the amateur or professional
prospector. If you are interested In
Geiger Counters, Mineralights, Blowpipe Sets,
Gold Pan or any of the other equipment
necessary to a field or prospecting trip,
send 5c in stamps or coin for your copy.
MINERALS UNLIMITED, Dept. D
1784 University Ave., Berkeley, California
34 DESERT MAGAZINE

Big Indian District, Utah . . .
Discovery of a new high grade uranium
ore body in the Big Indian Mining
District of Utah was announced by
Standard and Col-U-Mex Uranium corporations.
The new mine is a mile
southeast of Charles Steen's Mi Vida
mine in San Juan County, and 1600
feet south of Standard's Big Buck
mine.—Pioche Record
• • •
Pioche, Nevada . . .
Boron, first discovered in Nevada
in 1872 by F. M. "Borax" Smith, has
made the full circle of popularity and
is again one of the most sought after
minerals in the state. Research has
revealed that boron has special properties
which increase the efficiency of
high energy fuels, help plastics retain
their flexibility through extremes of
temperature, and produce new refractory
hard metals called borides. Search
for boron is concentrated on dry lakes.
—Pioche Record
• o •
Austin, Nevada . . .
Coffenite ore averaging 1.33 percent
uranium oxide for a width of 10 feet
has been hit in a diamond drill hole by
Apex Minerals Corporation in its Austin
operation. Easterly another 50
feet, at a depth of 132 feet, the drill
has cut six feet of coffenite ore averaging
in excess of one percent.—Nevada
State Journal
• • •
Washington, D. C. . . .
The Interior Department announced
two changes in the regulations governing
mineral leasing of land owned by
Indian tribes and individuals. Annual
rental under leases for minerals other
than oil and gas have been fixed at not
less than $1 an acre. Annual development
expenses will be not less than
$10 an acre unless otherwise authorized
by the Indian Commissioner. The
other change provides that the term of
mining leases on individually owned
Indian lands may extend for 10 years
and as long thereafter as minerals are
produced in paying quantities. The old
regulations provided for annual rental
rates on a graduated scale of 25 cents
per acre up to one dollar. Development
expense requirements varied by
minerals, but were less than $10 an
acre for all except coal, and leases for
minerals other than oil and gas on
individual lands were limited to 15
years without regard to production.—
Mining Record
• • • • • . •• - ."••• • • • . •• ••• • • •
• A A. ^- it -feiA
>• n** •-
(30LD, TTKANIUM,
OIL, WATER, Etc.
We can help to
find, and guarantee
location and
depth. GEOTEST
1833 Marney
T^os Angeles
Boron, California . . .
James M. Gerstley, president of
United States Borax and Chemical
Corporation, said his firm controls 70
percent of the known U. S. high-grade
reserves of boron, a metal of increasing
importance in atomic energy work.
The U. S. accounts for 90 percent of
the world's output of this material at
present, he added. The company's reserves
were estimated at 80,000,000
tons or enough to last 100 years at the
current rate of consumption. — Salt
Lake Tribune
Salt Lake City . . .
All uranium miners in the Colorado
Plateau will be eligible for free medical
examination during this summer. Two
United States Public Health Service
medical teams, operating in trailers,
will move from one mining district to
another to examine the U-workers. Dr.
Harriet L. Hardy of Boston, a leader
in the field of occupational disease,
believes development of occupationcaused
malignant disease among uranium
miners seems unlikely for two
reasons: most of the mines are small
and the larger ones are well ventilated;
the miners don't seem to stay long
enough in one place to get a dangerous
exposure to radioactive material.
Washington, D. C. . . .
Senator Alan Bible of Nevada has
introduced a bill which would allow
recognition of geophysical or geochemical
surveys; exploratory drilling or accessibility
of minerals on the claim—
and making these forms of exploration
and development applicable to the
$100 yearly labor requirement of the
mining laws. Bible explained that
while his amendment does not exclude
the older types of exploratory work
as assessment work, it does include the
use of more modern methods if the
claim holder wishes to use them. —
Pioche Record
• • •
Blcmding, Utah . . .
An important oil and natural gas
show has turned up at the Butler Wash
area, 11 miles southwest of Blanding.
Wildcat driller Ralph Fair reported recovering
between 2140 feet and 4700
feet of heavily gas cut drilling mud.
This is the first time gas has been
found below the salt section in the
Paradox Basin.—Salt Lake Tribune
MINERALOGY
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• One nob control • Easiest of all to operate
MORE ACCURATE, it's the first METAL DETECTOR designed SPE-
CIFICALLY for detecting placer gold, nuggets, and other small metal
objects. Depth range 7 feet—comes complete ready to use.
MODEL 27—instructions included $110.00
MODEL 711—with 21 ft. depth range $138.50
MINERALIGHT—Complete line from $14.95 up to $114.00
Send for Complete Information
HARDNESS TESTING PENCILS—
complete with diamond, in leather case •„...$ 10.50
PENSCOPES — 20-40 Power $ 12.00
LAPIDARY EQUIPMENT & SUPPLIES—TOOLS—GEMS—JEWELRY
CHEMICAL KITS, MORTARS & PESTELS—PICKS—BOOKS—ETC.
FOR THE WOOD WORKING HOBBYIST WE NOW STOCK A
COMPLETE LINE OF ATLAS AND PORTER CABLE POWER TOOLS
(buy from an experienced wood worker)
dom.lp.ton J\ock nofi
1405 S. Long Beach Blvd. 3 blocks south of Olive
NEmark 2-9096 Open Friday Evenings Compton, California
AUGUST, 1957 35

Navajo Reservation, Arizona . . .
Sixteen oil companies are engaged American Smelting and Refining
in oil exploration work in northeastern
Company apparently submitted a high
Arizona and southern Utah in prepara-
bid of $1,066,000 for exclusive extion
for the fall opening of 250,000
ploration rights on three tracts cover-
acres in Arizona and 125,000 acres in
ing a total of 15,000 acres of Papago
Utah to competitive oil and gas lease
Indian Reservation land. Three other
bidding by the Navajo Tribal Council.
firms also figured in the bidding. The
In most cases the preliminary work
bid must be approved by the tribal
consists of seismographic explorations.
council as well as individual Indians
Oil men report that the Black Mesa
to whom all but 160 of the acres have
Basin, larger than either the producing
been allotted.—Mining Record
Paradox and San Juan basins, is po-
tentially a great oil area. However,
the southern part of the mesa is within
the Hopi Reservation where explora-
tory work is not being allowed at pres-
ent.—Phoenix Gazette
EXPLORE FOR
TREASURE!
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for years! Search for
gold and silver coins, bullion,
and other valuables
"with M - Scope Treasure
Metal locators. Used world
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Fisher Research Lab., Inc.
Dept. D-l Palo Alto, Cal
Papago Reservation, Arizona . . .
Denver, Colorado . . .
A wide-open competitive market for
uranium once the atoms for peace pro-
gram gets underway was predicted by
David F. Shaw, assistant general man-
ager for manufacturing of the Atomic
Energy Commission. He assured min-
ers that the government would not use
its supplies to take away their sales.
Shaw said the government's interest in
all forms of fissionable materials is for
Prospectors' Headquarters
GEIGER COUNTERS AND SCINTILLATORS
The "Snooper" Gciger counter—model 108 * 29.95
The "Lucky Strike" Geiger counter—Model 10BC 88.50
The "Professional" Geiger Counter—Model 107C 149.50
The "Special Sclntillatbr"—Model 117 299.5(1
The "Deluxe" Hrintillator—Model 111B 495.00
ULTRA-VIOLET MINERALIGHTS
Model NH—Operates on 110 AC only U.7.%
Model M12—Operates on batteries only—with battery 40.65
Model Sl.-25.17—Operates on batteries or 110 AC—without case and batteries .19.50
With No, 303 case and batteries Bl.no
With No. 404 case and batteries - ««.«»
BOOKS
"Prospecting with a Geiser Counter" by Wright .ftil
"Cranium Color Photo Tone" 1.00
"Uranium Prospectors Hand Book" 1.00
"The Cranium and Fluorescent Minerals" by H. C. Dake 2.00
"Popular Prospecting" by H. C. Dake 2.00
"Uranium, Where It Is and How to Find It" by Proctor and Hyatt 2.50
"Minerals for Atomic Energy" by Nininger 7.5«
"l»t'» Go Prospecting" by Edward Arthur 1.50
MAPS
Ma* and Geology (Uranium and Mineral Districts of California) l.So
Map of Kern County (New Section and Township) 1-50
Map Uranium and Minerals (The Nine Southwest States) 1.00
Book and Map "Gems and Minerals of California" by McAllister 1.75
Book and Map "Lost Mines and Treasures of the Southwest" 2.0(1
OTHER SUPPLIES
Mineral Hardness Test Set 2.1(0
Radiassay—Uranium Test Kit 14.95
Mercury—Detector Fluorescent Screen 6.75
ScheeUte Fluorescent Analyzer 6.00
Fluorescent Mineral Set—10 Specimens—boxed 2.50
Mineral Specimen Boxes (35 named Minerals) 1.50
Prospectors Picks (not polished) 4.40
Prospectors Picks (polished) 4.75
12" Diameter Steel Gold Pan 1.85
16" Diameter Steel Gold Pan 1.70
All prices F.O.B. Los Angeles
Add 4% Sales Tax if you live in California
Member of American Gem & Mineral Suppliers Association
ALLEN LAPIDARY EQUIPMENT COMPANY
3632 West Slauson Ave., Dept. D Open Monday evening until 9:00 Lot Angelas, Calif.
two purposes: military and research.
If any new uses require any great
amount of these materials, an open
market will be created, he said.—Min-
ing Record
TRUE OR FALSE ANSWERS
1—False.
less.
Questions are on page 14
The chuckawalla is harm-
2—False. Beaver are protected along
most ( )f the Colorado.
3—False. Rainbow Bridge national
monument is in Utah.
4-—True. 5—True.
6—False.
seen
year.
7—True.
8—False. Creosote grows below sea
level in Imperial and Coachella
basins
9—True.
12—True.
14—False.
is in
15_True.
Desert mirages may be
during any month of the
10—True. 11—True.
13_True.
Capitol of New Mexico
Santa Fe.
16—True.
17_False. Havasupai Canyon is a
tributary of Grand Canyon.
18—True.
]9_False The reservoir behind
Davis Dam is Lake Mohave.
20—False Imperial Valley is irri-
gated from the Colorado River.
STfllKE IT RICH with
(For Uranium, -•••-.:•
Thorium, and
Rare Earth Minerals)
OREMASTER'S
"Rockhound"
SUPER
GEIGER COUNTER
The new OREMASTER "Rockhound" is
a SUPER Geiger Counter that excels
many $500 instruments. It is sensitive
enough for airborne and mobile prospecting,
yet weighs only iive pounds.
Big 4Vz" Super Sensitive Meter. Powerful
built-in speaker, bismuth tube, waterproof,
indicates the direction of radioactive
deposits, and numerous other
features.
Send for free literature and photo!
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Terms if desired: $35 down
$10 per month
Largest stock of used instruments of all
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WHITE'S ELECTRONICS
1218 M. Street — Sweet Home, Oregon
DESERT MAGAZINE

AMATEUR GEM CUTTER
By DR. H. C. DAKE, Editor of The Mineralogist
When synthetic rutile (Titania) first appeared
on the market, most gem cutters
found it a difficult stone to polish in the
usual manner in which the softer facet-cut
gems are handled. Rutile is comparatively
soft, having a hardness of from 6 to 6Vi,
less than that of agate. After a good deal
of experimenting by many gem cutters, both
commercial and amateur, it was found that
diamond dust was ideal. In fact some cutters
state that diamond is the only substance
suitable for polishing this soft and brittle
material.
Fenton Combs, pioneer amateur gem cutter,
uses the following technique:
"I have cut over 500 carats of synthetic
rutile. The material is rather brittle, so I
have been cutting an extra row of facets
around the girdle, top and bottom, at an
angle of 70 degrees. The main facets on
the base are cut at 37 degrees, on the crown
at 27 degrees. This gives a thin stone so
the extra facets around the girdle are a help
in preventing chipping in mounting. I am
cutting the star facets next the table at 20
degrees, the skew facets at 31 degrees which
gives well proportioned facets with not too
big a table. All cutting and polishing is done
with diamond, roughing out with 250 on
copper, grinding with 1200 on copper, polishing
with 4 micron on copper.
"For the polishing lap the diamond is
mixed with olive oil and merely rubbed
into the lap with the end of a quartz crystal.
A minute quantity will polish a stone. Being
soft, I first tried cerium oxide on lucite but
this did not work. Then tin oxide, then
aluminum oxide, then the same things on
lead and tin laps, with the same lack of
results.
"The last thing I thought of was diamond
lap and that did it, just five to 10 seconds
on each facet. I previously had not been
able to polish anything softer than an eight
on the diamond lap, but with rutile it gives
a perfect job, with no sign of scratches."
The beginner in cabochon cutting often
is at a loss to know what angles should be
made on the edge or girdle of a cabochon
cut stone. This depends on the stone's purpose.
If it is merely a gem that is for display
only and not to be mounted, it matters
little what angle is left at the "bezel" portion.
If the stone is to be mounted, consideration
must be given to the type of mounting
to be used; otherwise the manufacturing
jeweler may have difficulty in properly
mounting the gem. If the stone is to be
mounted in a heavy cast sterling silver
mounting, then only a slight angle need be
given the bezel portion. Measuring the slope
from the flat base, the angle should be approximately
10 degrees. The reason only a
slight angle is given for this type of mounting
is the difficulty of pressing or bending
a heavy mass of silver. On the other hand,
if the gem is to be mounted in a gold
mounting where thin strips of gold are bent
by hand to form the bezel, then 20 to 30
degrees slope should be given to the side of
the stone. Similar silver mounts can be
given a slightly lesser angle.
A cabochon cut stone lacking the proper
angle for the given type of mounting will
tend to loosen in the setting. Generally a
cabochon gem that becomes loose in the
mounting can be charged to incorrect cutting
or careless work in mounting, or, of
course, rough use of the ring may loosen
any stone in its mounting.
The hard felt buffs used in the lapidary
industry require very little care. Long continued
polishing of small stones may wear
grooves on the periphery or the buff may
become contaminated with silicon carbide
or other grits which may cause scratches
to appear on the work. It is possible to
easily and quickly renew or "dress" the
surface of the felt buff by the method given
below.
A one-inch wide steel file (long handle)
is cut down on the grinding wheels to a
blunt chisel edge. The file edge is then
held against the felt buff and small amounts
of the buff surface are cut away. By moving
the tool back and forth across the face of
the buff, any amount can be trimmed away.
Both felt and the polishing powder embedded
in the felt can be easily cut away.
If the polishing powder is suspected of being
contaminated it is advisable to clean
same from pan and start with a new charge.
In changing from one polishing agent to
another, separate felt buffs are advised.
However, the buff can be cleaned in the
manner referred to above, and a new polishing
agent brought into use. This is important,
especially in changing polishing
agents where one may be finer than the
powder previously used.
* * *
Attention has been called to the operation
of various lapidary tools at standard speeds
for best performance. Grinding wheels, for
example, give best efficiency when operated
at a surface speed of approximately 6000
feet per minute, or about 1910 revolutions
per minute in the case of a 12-inch wheel,
it will be seen that in order to get the same
The Most Comprehensiue Geological Supply Catalog
euer published. Giues standard prices for all materials.
A MUST FOR EVERY MINERAL COLLECTOR
and person interested in the Lapidary Art
Price—$1.00. This will be credited for any purchase over $10.00.
ECKERT MINERAL RESEARCH
110 East Main Street Florence, Colorado
efficiency, a 6-inch wheel would have to be
operated at a high r.p.m. speed.
The following formula will give surface
feet per minute: R.P.M. X diameter X
3.1416 divided by 12, equals surface feet
per minute.
To find the number of revolutions of
wheel spindle, surface speed and diameter
of wheel being known, multiply surface
speed in feet per minute by 12, divide the
product by 3.14, and divide again by the
wheel diameter to obtain r.p.m. of wheel.
To find proper speed of countershaft (line
shaft), proposed speed of grinding arbor
being given: Rule—Multiply the number
of revolutions per minute of the arbor by
the diameter of its pulley, and divide the
product by the diameter of the driving pulley
on the line shaft.
To find the diameter of pulley to drive
arbor, speed of line shaft being given: Rule
—Multiply the number of r.p.m. of the
arbor by the diameter of its pulley, and
divide the product by the number of r.p.m.
of line shaft.
DIAMOND BLADES
Heav.y-J>ul:y
Sup.-Chgd.
*u|»er
Chgd.
Stand.
Chgd.
8"
8"
10"
12"
14"
16"
18"
20"
24"
80"
3fi"
$
State
A rbor
Size
41.60
46.80
76.50
84.90
102.40
Send
Postage
$ 11.55 $10.50
15.45 14.05
19.80 18.00
26.60 24.24
36.50 33.20
41.60 37.80
52.15 47.40
57.75 52.50
83.30 75.70
17B.10 Sis. tax
267.60 in Calif.
w— •Send nogtai: :e—Tax in Calif.
Free Catalog shows 17 Covington -Avertical
type grinders and polishers.
_ - 6 Covington Trim Sawn
f to choose from in latest
L; -: Free Catalog.
Multi - Feature Lapl
dary Unit. Free Catalog
shows 8 Covington
Horizontal
models.
BUILD YOUR OWN
LAP and save. Free
Catalog shows 13
Build Your Own
Items.
Select any one of 7
Covington Slab Saws
from latest Free Catalog.
USED BY THE U.S. GOVERNMENT
Send for latest Catalog showing Covington,
the largest lapidary equipment line in
America. IT'S FREE.
DEALERS WANTED
Covington Lapidary Eng.
REDLANDS D, CALIFORNIA
AUGUST, 1957 37

G t m s
CARPENTER'S VIBRATING
SANDER POLISHES ONYX
Large slabs of onyx can be polished with
a small 4x6 inch carpenter's vibrating sander.
Start by placing 400 or 600 size worn wet
paper on the sander and 200 grit to remove
the saw marks. The grit is placed directly
onto the slab which has been moistened
with water. After the saw marks are re-
EXCITING
ERflLE
moved, wash away the grit and then go to
400 grit. Next step is 600 grit.
For buffing remove the grit paper, clean
the slab and sander, put three layers of cotton
canvas on the sander and place wet tin
oxide on the slab. Move the sander back
and forth until the stone's surface is nearly
dry but not hot. Apply the tin oxide two
or three times.—Pseudomorph
ON ANUARY 1st, WE RELEASED,
1RED COVEl£y
Edition of our Encyclopedia
and Super-Catalog of the Lapidary & Jewelry Arts.
YOU MAY PURCHASE THESE AT:
$1.95 for Paper Bound Copies
$2.95 for DELUXE Book Binding
Add 25c for Domestic Postage & Packing or
50c for A. P. O.'s, Foreign, or U. S. Territories.
This is a book of 240 PAGES 8'/2" x 11" in
size, the equivalent of 480 regular textbook
size pages. EIGHT COLORS of ink are used.
THIS ENCYCLOPEDIA is a handsome volume
of NEW and VALUABLE information for the
JEWELRY CRAFTSMAN and GEM CUTTER. It is an outstanding
NEW BOOK —not just a catalog. It is
excellent for SCHOOLS and their CRAFT
TEACHERS.
NEITHER TIME, COST OR RESEARCH HAVE BEEN SPARED
to MAINTAIN THE HIGHEST STANDARD OF USEFULNESS
AND SCOPE. IT SUGGESTS THINGS TO DO—THE MOST
APPROVED METHODS OF DOING THEM AND IS FILLED |
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS and INSTRUCTIONS DESIGNED to
FULFILL YOUR EVERY REQUIREMENT.
IT LISTS 2200 items—machinery, tools, supplies
for gem cutting and jewelry making. Baroque gems,
books, Jewelry metals and parts. Gilding metal and
copper forms for enameling.
DEALERS: SEND FOR Dealer Information
Gold Filled ACCESSORY
SPECIAL OFFER No. S-194
contains all metal parts needed to make complete
necklace and earrings from stars in P-84. REGULAR
VALUE $4.05—
NOW I for $3.70* 3 for $8.30
*Add 10% Fed. Tax to S-194
Here's What One Customer Says about
our Encyclopedia.
Your catalog & "Bible" is getting more valuable to me
every day. Removed my first batch of tumbled stones
yesterday and they turned out swell, thanks to your
instructions in the "Bible".
H. D. Bushey, Bakersfield, Calif.
THREE STAR
PREMIUM OFFER No. BEE
ONE PREMIUM OFFER No. 30E
contains 3 GENUINE ROCK CRYSTAL FACETED STARS as
illustrated. Regular VALUE $3.45. NOW $1.50
WITH the purchase of an Encyclopedia.
NOTE: Word your order like this:
I No. GE3 (Point Drilled) S 1.50*
I Encyclopedia 1.95
TOTAL PRICE of the 2 items. '. . $3.45
YOU GET BOTH ITEMS for the
REGULAR PRICE OF THE STARS.
: Add 10% Fed. Tax to CM] & 25c postage
C a l i f o r n i a r e s i d e n t s K9-27 P l e a d d 4 % s a l e s t a x .
" ^ I •• 4« 1633 E. Walnut St.
> ^3*t) MMlf_y« Pasadena 4, Calif.
MAIL ADDRESS: P. O. Box 4185, CATALINA STATION, PASADENA, CALIF.
AU6UST SHOW
CALENDAR
July 27-August 11—San Diego, California.
Mineral and Gem Society's show in conjunction
with the city's Fiesta del Pacifico.
August 4—Hollister, California. Tri-Club
Rock Swap at Bolado Park.
August 4-10 — Portland, Oregon. Oregon
Agate and Mineral Society's show at Oregonian
Hostess House, 1320 S.W. Broadway.
August 10-11—Bayfield, Colorado. Navajo
Trails Gem and Mineral Club's show at
Gem Village.
August 17-18—Santa Cruz, California. Mineral
and Gem Society's show at Riverside
Hotel.
August 17-18—Hermosa Beach, California.
South Bay Lapidary and Mineral Society's
show.
August 17-18—Morton, Washington. Four
Club Rock Show.
August 22-25—Bremerton, Washington. Kitsap
Gem and Mineral Society's show in
conjunction with county fair.
August 29-31—Old Point Comfort, Virginia.
Eastern Federation of Mineralogical and
Lapidary Societies' convention and show.
August 29-September 2—San Fernando Valley
Fairgrounds, Devonshire Downs, California.
Mineral Dealers Show.
August 31-September 2—Tacoma, Washington.
Northwest Federation of Mineralogical
Societies convention and show.
• • •
HOBBYISTS USE NITRIC
ACID TO CLEAN SHELLS
The beautiful colors occurring on the
insides of abalone shells come from the
interference of light waves by the laminations
of nacre (mother of pearl) deposited
by the abalone. The unattractive outer layer
of the abalone's shell can be removed with
nitric acid to make the two sides similar in
appearance and beauty.
Nitric acid is very toxic, however, and
should not be used indoors. Do not breathe
the fumes and wear rubber gloves to protect
your hands. Apply the acid with a
stick that has been pounded into a brush.
To stop local action dab the spot with
household ammonia and to stop all of the
acid's action, wash the entire shell with ammonia
and then with clear water. — San
Francisco Gem and Mineral Society's Mineralog
RARE MINERAL BERYLLIUM
HAS AMAZING QUALITIES
Beryllium, familiar to all rockhounds who
have collected beryl crystals, belongs to the
rare minerals group. Its most common use
is as a copper alloy. Adding two percent
beryllium to copper hardens it by six times
and at the same time increases its melting
point to approximately 2500 degrees Fahrenheit.
Besides its use by the aircraft
industry, it has extensive application in the
watch industry because of its great tensile
strength, great resistance to fatigue and its
non-magnetic qualities.
Pure beryllium metal is transparent to
x-rays and other rays of like nature and has
found much use in x-ray tubes and cyclotrons.
Also it is used as a phosphor to line
tubes of certain types of phosphorescent
lights.
Beryllium occurs in bertrandite, chrysoberyl,
heluite, phenacite and other minerals.
—Clarence Jenni in the Montebello, California,
Mineral and Lapidary Society's The
Braggin' Rock
DESERT MAGAZINE

Gem Societies
Hme Officets
The following new officers were elected
to head the East Bay Mineral Society of
Oakland, California: Harold Mahoney,
president; Emmett Murray, vice president;
Mr. and Mrs. Francis Rhodes, treasurers;
Dorothy Miller, secretary; and Fred Cochran,
director.
* * :!:
New officers of the Chicago Rocks and
Minerals Society are Louis Holtz, president;
Edward Rushton, vice president; Margaret
Laehr, recording secretary; Dorothy Smith,
corresponding secretary; Lorenz Gleiser,
treasurer; Gerald Ostrum, editor; and Selma
Jenner, curator-historian. — Pick and Dop
Stick
$ * *
Glen Gipson was elected president of the
Arrowhead Mineralogical Society of Fontana,
California. Serving with him will be
Jerry Almind, vice president; Loren Mc-
Croskey, secretary; Lucia Mehring, treasurer;
John Kelly, trustee; Vivienne Dosse,
federation director; and Eula and Johnnie
Short, co-editors.—Arrow Points
* * *
The following officers were elected by
the Colorado Mineral Society of Denver:
Ralph C. Ellis, president; Arthur J. Ermish,
first vice president, Bernard Bench, second
vice president; Jean Walker, secretary-treasurer;
and Grace Neill, corresponding secretary.—Mineral
Minutes
* * *
Election of the organization's first woman
president, Dorothy Harrington, was announced
by the San Jose, California, Lapidary
Society. Other officers are Bill Fuller,
vice president; George Gillespie, secretary;
and Lucille Scott, treasurer.-—Lap Bulletin
* * *
New officers elected for the 1957-58 club
year by the Montebello, California, Mineral
and Lapidary Society were Albert D. Carter,
president; Gertrude F. Nagele, vice president;
June Ross, secretary; Robert A. Carter,
financial secretary; W. N. Ewing,
treasurer; John Morrell and Miriam Taylor,
directors; Walter K. Nagele, federation director;
and Clarence Jenni, editor.—The
Brag gin' Rock
CHINESE NAMED THOUSANDS
OF DIFFERENT JADE COLORS
The classic nine colors of nephrite jade
during the great ages of its carving in China
were: translucent white, indigo blue, moss
green, plume-of-the-kingfisher, yellow, cinnabar
red, blood red, lacquer black and
opaque white. The last mentioned color
was and still is the most highly prized of
all jade hues.
These are by no means all the names
given to the colors of jade—sunflower, cassia,
melon peel, date skin, moss, fruit flesh,
spinach, cow hair, water, candle red, redof-a-child's-face,
purple-of-the-veins, silk,
porcelain and duck bone are just a few of
the thousands of names used in the jade
trade.
In addition to the color of jades, the
Chinese also speak of the fragrance of jade,
but this probably alludes to those jade
pieces buried so long with the spices and
perfumes of the grave that they took on
distinctive fragrances.—San Gabriel Valley,
California, Lapidary Society's Stone Tablet
H-BOMB BLAST PRODUCES
TWO NEW ELEMENTS
The first full-scale hydrogen bomb explosion
in the Pacific in late 1952 produced
two new elements which have been added
to the conventional list of basic substances.
Three groups of researchers recommended
that the new elements be named after the
late Dr. Albert Einstein and the late Dr.
Enrico Fermi, scientists who played important
roles in the development of atomic
energy. Such recommendations usually are
accepted in the scientific world.
The new elements were numbered 99
(einsteinium) and 100 (fermium) in the
roster of chemical substances. Some of the
details concerning these elements are classified.—Sacramento,
California, Mineral Society's
Matrix
• • •
Wyoming Jade, varying in color from a
light pea green to a very dark green that is
almost black, is in demand by rockhounds,
collectors and jewelers. Specimens also have
been found in white, yellow and mottled
jade colors. There are two kinds of Wyoming
Jade, jadeite, silicate of aluminum and
sodium; and nephrite, calcium and magnesium
silicate.—Fresno, California, Gem and
Mineral Society's Chips
GRIEGER'S Parade of Values
Watch this page for new offerings. Don't buy elsewhere until you have compared our low prices
& high quality. N

GEM m A It TADVERTISI N^1 "' R A T E
12c a word . . . Minimum $2.00
TRADE GEM stones rough and sell. Special
Lake Superior agate small $1.25 lb.
Datolite $2.00 up. Montana agate $1.00
lb. Want jade, chrysocolla, Mexican agate,
faceting rough. Stainless drill tubes
18 and 19 gauge, $1.00 foot. Free sample
drilling grit. Malone Drilling Machine.
Nevada turquoise $10 and $15 lb. Visitors
welcome. Father Krauklis, Box 180,
Flintville— Rt. 5, Green Bay, Wisconsin.
PLASTIC BOXES for collectors. Over 60
sizes, free leaflet. Schrader Instrument
Company, Independence, Iowa.
BARGAIN SPECIALS: send dollar bill for
1 rare Brazilian Phenacite clear crystal—
or 3 howlite nodules—or 2 beautiful pinkwhite
chalcedony roses—or 5-square-inch
slab Utah dinosaur bone—or 9 tumbled
gems from South Australia. State preference.
Lapidary, 13814 Ventura Blvd.,
Sherman Oaks, California.
FAMED FLUORESCENT collection of
late George Williams for sale. Over 100
large pieces plus two large lamps. See
and make offer. 7417 Denny Ave., Sun
Valley, California.
AGATIZED WOOD. Beautiful colors, patterns.
Fine for cabs, slabs, tumbling.
Large chunks for book ends, spheres included
in 100 lb. bag sizes to ton available.
5 lbs. $2.50; 25 lbs. $10 plus postage;
100 lbs. $35 FOB Barstow. Federal
tax included. California residents add
4%. Bill Depul, Box 593, Barstow, Calif.
COLLECTORS ATTENTION! Rough and
Cut Stones at lowest prices. Large assortment.
Ask for price list. Will send on
approval to responsible party. L. de
Crissey, P. O. Box 93, Times Square
Station, New York 36, N.Y.
HAVE REAL FUN with desert gems,
minerals and rocks. The rockhound's
how-to-do-it magazine tells how. One
year (12 issues) only $3.00. Sample 25c.
Gems and Minerals, Box 687-D, Mentone,
California.
LARGE VARIETY mixed tumbled stones
—tigereye, agates, obsidian, palm root,
quartz. 40-60 stones in pound—only $4.
Free: matched preforms with every
pound purchased. Cash or money orders,
tax paid. Sid's Originals, Route 1, Box
369, Beaumont, California.
GEMS A-PLENTY: Beautiful baroque gems,
large variety, tumbled polished all over,
$10.00 for one pound (about 100 stones).
10 lbs. of top grade gemstone prepaid for
$7.00. Wholesale price to dealers on baroque
gems and gemstone in the rough.
Satisfaction guaranteed on every sale.
San Fernando Valley Gem Co., 5905
Kester Ave., Van Nuys, California.
VISIT GOLD Pan Rock Shop. Beautiful
sphere material, gems, mineral specimens,
choice crystals, gem materials, jewelry,
baroques, etc. Over 100 tons of material
to select from. John and Etta James,
proprietors, 2020 N. Carson Street, Carson
City, Nevada.
MEXICAN AGATE Nodules: a beautiful
polished specimen postpaid $1.00 or 10
for $5.00. B.&H. Rock Shop, 29 Cherry
Lane, Granbury, Texas.
TURQUOISE FOR Sale. Turquoise in the
rough priced at from $5 to $50 a pound.
Royal Blue Mines Co., Tonopah, Nevada.
PETOSKEY AGATE Shop, Gould City,
Michigan. Petoskey stones, rough or polished.
Petoskey stone jewelry. Floyd
Irwin, Manager.
ROUGH INDIA star ruby, dopped, oriented.
Ready to cut and polish. With instructions
$3.00. Price list free. Jack Schuller,
616-D Overhill, Park Ridge, Illinois.
VISIT ROY'S Rock Shop 101 Highway,
Trinidad, California. Agates, thundereggs,
minerals, rough materials, baroques,
findings, preforms, polish specimens,
wholesale retail dealers send one dollar
for samples and price list. Box 133.
DINOSAUR BONE. Gem quality colorful
agatized, jasperized, opalized bone 50c
pound. Also beautiful red lace agate $1
pound. Postage extra. Gene Stephen,
Route 2, Grand Junction, Colorado.
35 YEAR collection, specimens, slabbing
rough and finished, tumbling, all kinds
of agates and fire, jasper, palm wood,
arrowheads, hammers, fossils, geodes,
minerals, purple glass—any amount. D.
W. Rogers, 3 blocks north Midland elevator,
Ashton, Idaho.
HUNT IN our rock yard. Agate, jasper
and wood. Rocks for jewelry and decorations.
Pollard at Green's Little Acre
Trailer Park. Route 80, 6 miles east El
Cajon, California.
MICROMOUNTS. Colorado mineral specimen.
State power of microscope. Preforms
in opalized wood and fossils. A
few select preforms in red sillimanite and
blue sillimanite. Jarco, Littleton, Colo.
AGATE, JASPER, wood, gem grade, very
colorful. Two pounds $1.00. Ten pounds
$4.50 pp. Preston, Star Route, Box A-23,
Grants, New Mexico.
OPALS AND Sapphires direct from Australia.
Special—this month's best buy:
Cut and polished black opal doublets;
12 beautiful stones including earring
pairs up to 15 mm. All for $18. Free
airmailed. Send personal check, international
money order, bank draft. Free
16 page list of all Australian Gemstones.
Australian Gem Trading Co., 49 Elizabeth
Street, Melbourne, Australia.
SUMMER SPECIAL — Overstocked on
slabbed agate, wood and jasper — 30square
inches $5.00 postpaid until September
30. Carpenter's Trading Post,
P.O. Box 97, Cavecreek, Arizona.
OPEN 8 A.M. to 5 P.M. Monday through
Friday. Other hours by appointment or
when home. Residence back of shop.
Mile west on U.S. 66. McShan's Gem
Shop, Box 22, Needles, California.
GENUINE TURQUOISE: Natural color,
blue and bluish green, cut and polished
Cabochons—25 carats (5 to 10 stones
according to size) $3.50 including tax,
postpaid in U.S.A. Package 50 carats (10
to 20 cabochons) $6.15 including tax,
postpaid in U.S.A. Elliott Gem & Mineral
Shop, 235 E. Seaside Blvd., Long Beach
2, California.
POLISHED PREFORM slices of all kinds.
Beautiful for Bolos. Sample Order 3 for
$1.00 prepaid. Approximately 85 to the
pound $15.00 per pound. Parts for Bolos
and all jewelry findings. Lowest prices.
Wholesale to dealers. Jewelgems by Jay
O'Day. P.O. Box 6, Rancho Mirage, Cal.
JUREANO WOOD, gem quality, 65 cents
plus postage. A. B. Cutler, Box 32,
Salmon, Idaho. Slabs, tumbled, J. E.
Cutler, Gearhart, Oregon.
FLUORITE OCTAHEDRONS, 10 small
gemmy cleavage crystals $1 postpaid.
Gene Curtiss, 911 Pine Street, Benton,
Kentucky.
C. EARL NAPIER "for rocks." 19 Lake
View, Boulder City, Nevada. Free guide
service to collecting areas.
FOR SALE: Beautiful purple petrified wood
with uranium, pyrolusite, manganite. Nice
sample $1.00 Postage. Maggie Baker,
Box 7, Hackberry, Arizona.
COLORADO MINERAL specimens, cutting
and tumbling materials. Send 2 cent
stamp for list and terms. Dealers please
write for wholesale list. John Patrick,
Idaho Springs, Colorado.
12 POUNDS OF beautiful Colorado mineral
specimens, $8.00 prepaid. Ask for
list of others. Jack the Rockhound, P. O.
Box 245, Carbondale, Colorado.
WE ARE MINING every day. Mojave
Desert agate, jasper and palm wood,
shipped mixed 100 pounds $10.50 F.O.B.
Barstow. Morton Minerals & Mining,
21423 Highway 66, R.F.D. 1, Barstow,
California.
OPALS, DEEP red, blue, green, golden,
flashing in all colors of the rainbow,
direct from the mine, 15 for $5.00. 10
ringsize stones, (opal, amethyst, etc.)
ground and polished, ready to set $5.00.
Kendall, Sanmiguel d'Allende, Guanajuato,
Mexico.
IN RUIDOSO, New Mexico, visit the Gem
Shop. Gemstones, mineral specimens,
gemstone jewelry, cutting materials, slabs,
crystals, decorative items, sea shells, Indian
points. James and Woodie Gayden.
One mile west of Post Office on Main
Road, Upper Ruidoso.
NEW FEDERATION FORMED
IN CENTRAL PLAINS
Representatives of several Kansas and
Missouri gem and mineral clubs met in
Wichita recently to form a new organization,
Central Plains Mineral Clubs. A. C.
Carpenter of Ottawa was elected president;
Leo Dierksen of Hutchinson, vice president;
Mrs. C. C. Williams, Lawrence, secretary;
and Stephen B. Lee, Wichita, treasurer.
Discussed at the organizational meeting
was the possibility of having an annual
show, the locale of which would rotate
among the member cities.—Quarry Quips
• • •
Odontolite often is mistaken for true turquoise.
However, this material comes from
animal bones and teeth that have been dyed
blue by phosphate of iron while in the process
of fossilizing. It sometimes is known as
bone or fossil turquoise.—Evansville, Indiana,
Lapidary Society's News Letter
• • •
Quartz with spangled inclusions is known
as aventurine. The included minerals are
scales of shiny mica or hematite. The most
familiar aventurine is of a reddish-yellow
color and has a coppery sheen. Only small
quantities of aventurine have been found in
this country.—Rockhound's Bark
40 DESERT MAGAZINE

COLORFUL JASPER IS
IDEAL FOR NEW LAPIDARIES
Jasper is one of the more familiar stones.
It usually is found among the gravel of
stream beds in regions of comparatively
recent lava flow, and along beaches. Jasper
consists of a compact aggregate of finely
granular quartz mixed with impurities in
large amounts that give it its coloring.
Most common colors are reds, browns
and greens and mineralogists have identified
about 70 different varieties of jasper.
This stone takes a splendid glossy polish,
wears well and is very attractive. Because
it is abundant and polishes so readily, it is
considered an excellent material for beginners
of the rock cutting hobby.
Jasper occurs in many areas. The Morgan
Hill, California, region produces one
of the most striking jasper types—orbicular
jasper — bright red matrix with circular
areas of white, gray, yellow and orange.
From the lavic fields of the Mojave Desert
come good jasper specimens. A red and
white banded jasper is found in Shasta and
San Bernardino counties of California, two
widely separated localities.
Exceptionally attractive yellow and red
jasper was brought up during the sinking
of the foundation for the Golden Gate
Bridge in San Francisco Bay and it is believed
the bridge rests on jasper foundations.
A few years ago a very large mass of
gem quality jasper was found by an Antelope,
Oregon, farmer while plowing his field.
Pebbles of variagated jasper occur on the
beaches of Santa Catalina Island where it
is known as Catalinate. — Hogan Hollingsworth
in the Sequoia, California, Mineral
Society's Bulletin
• • •
Service station owner "Hap" McLaughlin,
a member of the San Gorgonio Mineral and
Gem Society of Banning, California, is
building a large four-foot long tumbler.
Polished rocks produced in this tumbler
will be given free to children of his customers.
• • •
Chalcocite is common in small amounts
in many of the copper mines of California.
These specimens usually are coated with
malachite, but chalcocite itself is dark gray
to black and has a metallic luster. The most
important copper ores are the sulphides and
these contain not more than 12 percent and
sometimes as little as one percent copper.—
Arrow Points
1 .'•••'.
m --'is
I-
j;
MANY KINDS OF INORGANIC
PEARLS FOUND IN WORLD
California abalones occasionally develop
blister pearls which are of no value as far
as pearls go, but can be cut into attractive
cabochons. Seed pearls sometimes have
been found in Puget Sound oysters. Fresh
water mussels which produce pearls of high
luster are found in the Mississippi Valley
streams as well as in various streams of
Europe, Japan and China. Conch pearls,
produced by Florida mollusks, usually are
pink or yellow and are more of a curiosity
than a gem stone.
The pearl is the only organic material to
be accepted as a birthstone and gem pearls
are produced mainly by the pearl oyster of
the warm tropical seas. They usually are
called "Oriental pearls." Baja California
waters produce fine black pearls.—Contra
Costa, California, Mineral and Gem Society's
Bulletin
CRUMPLED FOIL ABSORBS
FALL OF PRECIOUS GEMS
If you are working on a precious stone
for the first time, and are afraid of dropping
and ruining it, try this:
Fern Dunlap of the Southern Siskiyou
Gem and Mineral Society made a tray under
her grinding wheel and sander out of used
aluminum foil. To this she fashioned a
connecting deflector at the buff. Now,
when a stone breaks loose, it hits the deflector
and drops back into the tray, unharmed.
The slightly crumpled foil is an
excellent fall absorber.
LOOK ...
. . . have you wanted to experiment with
different polishing agents, hut have heen
stopped cold by the high cost of pound lots?
We are making an offer of SEVEN IMF-
PKKMSfX AGENTS of one ounce each (except
Linde A, which is 8 grams) in plastic containers
at the small cost of only $2.10 postpaid
in the U.S.A.
They are Tin Oxide, Chrome Oxide, Cerium
Oxide, Zirconium Oxide, Levigated Alumina,
Tripoli and Linde A.
Money Back Guarantee
California residents please add 4% sales tax
E. R. JACOBSEN
Lapidary-Mineralogy-Prospector Supplies
LOrain 7-6378
3022 Tweedy Blvd. South Gate, Calif.
Petrified Wood, Moss Agate, Chrysocolla
Turquoise, Jade and Jasper Jewelry
HAND MADE IN STERLING SILVER
Bracelets, Rings, Necklaces. Earrings
and Brooches
SPECIALLY SELECTED STONES WITH
CHOICE COLORS AND PICTURES
Write for Folder With Prices
ELLIOTT'S GEM SHOP
235 East Seaside Blvd. Long Beach 2. California
Across from West End of Municipal
Auditorium Grounds
Hours 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Daily Except Monday
Announcement was made by the Benicia,
California, Rock and Gem Club that it will
hold its annual show on September 21-22.
The event is scheduled for the Memorial
Building in Benicia and show hours are 10
a.m. to 10 p.m. on the 21st and 10 a.m. to
8 p.m. on the 22nd.
• • •
"Gem Stones of the United States" is the
title of a 253-page book by Dorothy M.
Schlegel that the Geological Survey recently
published. Those wishing a copy of this
publication should send 25 cents to the
Superintendent of Documents, Washington,
D.C. Request: Geological Survey Bulletin
1042-G.—Ghost Sheet
llil.lli I\H PARK
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32 MODELS TO CHOOSE FROM
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South Pasadena. California
AUGUST, 195 7 41

OF us who have had the privilege of
boating on the Colorado River and its tributaries,
hoped that some day the scenic Glen Canyon
sector of the Colorado would become a national park.
At one time, when Harold Ickes was Secretary of the
Interior, there seemed to be a good prospect that this
dream would come true.
But the opposition of private power companies was
too strong, and the last vestige of hope for such a project
faded away recently when the Reclamation Bureau accepted
a bid for the construction of Glen Canyon dam—
and the impounding of a 200-mile reservoir behind it.
If the program is carried out according to schedule
the lovely coves and grottos and estuaries of Glen Canyon
which in years past have been a delight to explorer and
photographer, will be submerged beneath the water of a
new man-made lake.
But there are other gorgeous canyons along the Colorado
and its tributaries. Recently I had the opportunity
to become acquainted with other gorges which in some
respects are even more impressive than Glen Canyon.
I am referring to Labyrinth and Stillwater canyons
of the Green River in Utah—just upstream from its confluence
with the Colorado. With Georgie White as skipper,
24 of us spent a leisurely week floating through Labyrinth
and Stillwater and thence through the tumultuous waters
of Cataract Canyon to the old ferry crossing at Hite. The
story will be written in more detail for a later issue of
Desert Magazine.
The Labyrinth Canyon trip has not been a popular
river excursion in the past because it was not practicable
—due to lack of exit roads—to navigate this sector of
the Green without continuing downstream through the
hazardous waters of Cataract Canyon to Hite. But the
new lake behind Glen Canyon dam eventually will back
far up into Cataract Canyon and submerge most of its
rapids in silt. My guess is that in future years the boat
trip from the town of Green River, Utah, through Labyrinth
and Stillwater Canyons and thence across the surface
of the new lake, will become one of the most popular
outboard motor excursions in the Southwest. The beautiful
coloring and fantastic formations of Labyrinth Canyon
walls will make this a trip never to be forgotten.
In a world in which the biggest item in most of the
national budgets is the cost of weapons and the training
of men to kill, and in which the chief goal of individual
effort appears to be higher wages or more income, it is
refreshing to spend an hour reading Joseph Wood Krutch's
Voice of the Desert.
een Uou
By RANDALL HENDERSON
Krutch is a naturalist—an interpretative naturalist—
who studies the plant and animal life of the desert world
to determine what lessons may be learned for the guidance
of human beings. From the standpoint of those who
appraise everything that lives on this earth, and the earth
itself, only in terms of immediate personal gain for memselves,
some of Krutch's conclusions are pure heresy. For
instance, his suggestion that "there are places where the
creosote bush is a more useful plant than cotton" will
bring an immediate protest from a majority of my friends
in the real estate business, providing they have become
interested enough in the land they are selling to learn
what a creosote bush looks like.
Nevertheless, it is obvious to all who can read and
learn, that in a large measure Arizona's critical shortage
of water is due to the folly of plowing up too many acres
of creosote and planting too many acres of cotton.
There is a word in the English language, the significance
of which should be taught to every youngster in
school. The word is "ecology" and it is defined in the
dictionary as "the branch of biology which teaches the
mutual relations among organisms and between them and
their environment." It is good for one's humility to become
familiar with the ecology of this earth on which we
live—the fine balance which Nature preserves when left
to her resources—and the penalty we humans pay when
we discard as useless every plant and animal which does
not appear to contribute to our own immediate gain.
As Dr. Krutch concludes: "We must live for something
besides making a living. If we do not permit the earth
to produce beauty and joy, it will in the end not produce
food either."
* * *
This is written in mid-July. Most of the desert shrubs
have completed their flowering cycle, and their seeds have
been broadcast by one of the many methods Nature uses
to perpetuate the species.
For humans who spend July and August in this land
of high temperatures, summer is a discomfort to be endured,
or an adventure in the fine art of adaptability,
according to the attitude of the individual.
It is good for folks to keep their adaptive functions
active. To a person in normal health, extremes of heat
and cold, within limits, are beneficial, just as are wind,
and sunny and cloudy days. Dr. Alexis Carrel's chapter
on adaptation in Man the Unknown, is one of the finest
essays I have ever read on this subject. It has helped
make year-around living on the desert a stimulating challenge
during my 46 years of desert experience. And I
will repeat again my old formula for summer comfort—
keep busy, breath deeply, and drink plenty of water.
42 DESERT MAGAZINE

BOOKSoiMODWMST
PHYSICAL WELL-BEING IS
ESSENTIAL TO PROGRESS
While biological sciences generally
accept the Darwinian theory of evolution
through the process of competitive
natural selection, the research of
more recent students of natural science
has led to the conclusion that
other factors than competition have a
modifying influence on survival.
One of those who has sought by field
study to throw further light on the
subject of evolution is Dr. Angus M.
Woodbury of the University of Utah.
His recent book Comfort for Survival
suggests that the constant quest of
animal life for physical comfort has
an important bearing on survival.
Dr. Woodbury has carried on his
studies for many years, especially with
reptiles and birds, and much of the
book is devoted to his findings in the
field, largely in Utah.
He has established ample proof that
under conditions of minimum comfort,
animal life may forget hunger, mating
and other fundamental drives until that
first of all requirements, physical wellbeing,
has been, at least in part, satisfied.
Without for a moment suggesting
that he has said the last word on the
subject, the author presents a challenging,
provocative document — particularly
significant when we realize its
human and evolutionary implications.
Published by Vantage Press, New
York. 104 pp. Halftone illustrations.
Bibliography. $3.00.
• • •
BONANZA SEEKER SPINS
50 LOST TREASURE TALES
A despondent man, wracked by
money problems, decided to end it all.
He climbed a tree and tied his rope to
a limb. Just as he was about to jump,
he saw an old man below burying a
heavy sack. After he left, our hero
climbed down and dug up the sack.
It contained a fortune in gold! He was
deliriously happy and lived that way
ever after. But, the old man, returning
to the scene and finding his treasure
gone, climbed the tree and used the
rope.
This is how Robert G. Ferguson explains
the way the finding—and losing
—of gold affects men in his new book,
Books reviewed on this page are
available at Desert Crafts Shop
Palm Desert, California
Add four percent sales tax on orders
to be sent to Caiifornia
Write for complete catalog of
Southwestern books
Lost Treasure, The Search for Hidden
Gold.
Ferguson is not a professional writer.
He is a miner and lost treasure hunter
who has spent a lifetime tracking down
these bonanzas and swapping tales
about them with other old timers. The
notes he made on these lost mines,
never meant for publication, make up
the book.
Some of the 50 stories we have heard
before, a few of these contain interesting
variations. Some of the stories are
fresh. Some of them sound amazingly
authentic. And some hang by a very
thin thread—but if all the facts are
known, then there would be no lost
mines. The important thing is that the
teller be entertaining as well as informative,
and this Mr. Ferguson is.
Published by Vantage Press, New
York. 135 pages; $2.75.
• • •
TWO URANIUM PROSPECTORS
WRITE COMPLETE MANUAL
Uranium Prospecting, A Complete
Manual is a new book on the practical
aspects of uranium prospecting in particular
and all mining in general.
The authors, Donald W. Swanson
and William Van der Ley, answer
every conceivable question that the
weekend as well as veteran prospector
might ask—where to look for uranium,
the merits and demerits of prospecting
equipment, how uranium got into the
ground, how to stake and file claims
in each of the 48 states, sampling ore
for assay, addresses of AEC offices
and uranium producers, developing the
claim, handling explosives and, finally,
what the government will pay for the
ore. Also included are brief courses
in basic types of rocks, identifying minerals,
and geology.
To the authors' credit the get-richquick
theme, so common in the early
days of the uranium boom, is not made
a part of this book. They make it
clear that it takes a lot of hard work
Desert Best Seller List*
1. Ghosts of the Glory Trail
Nell Murbarger $5.75
2. Geological Story of Death Valley
Thomas Clements $1.50
3. Lost Mines and Buried Treasure
John Mitchell $5.00
4. Poisonous Dwellers of the Desert
Natt N. Dodge $ .50
5. The Story of Bodie, Ella M. Cain
$2.50 paper; $4.00 cloth
'"Based on June sales by Desert
Magazine Bookshop.
and know-how to make money in the
uranium business. Swanson and Van
der Ley have been prospecting for uranium
with some success since they were
discharged from the service after the
last war. Some of the utilitarian hints
they give from start to finish could
only come from writers who have
worked at their subject.
Published by Vantage Press, New
York; illustrated; index; 210 pages;
$4.00.
Eighteen-year-old Everett Ruess
dreamed of a wild carefree
life in the far places of the earth
where, unfettered by the petty
restrictions of civilization, he
could explore the unknown wilderness
and paint and write as he
roamed.
In 1934 Everett entered the
canyon wilderness along the Colorado
River, searching for the
"beauty beyond all power to convey"
that he knew awaited him in
the colorful desert land.
He never returned from that
trip.
His burros and pack saddles
were found by searching parties
three months later—but no clue
has ever disclosed the fate of this
young artist-explorer.
From that fateful journey and
earlier treks has come a compilation
of his letters, stories, wood
cuts, drawings and photographs,
first published by Desert Magazine
Press in 1940, but as vivid
and alive with the wonder and
enthusiasm of youth today as
they were in 1934—and as they
will be in 1994—
ON DESERT TRAILS
WITH EVERETT RUESS
Cloth-bound
Original First Edition
$175
(California Purchasers Please
Add 4% Sales Tax)
Send Orders to
DESERT CRAFT SHOP
Palm Desert California
AUGUST, 1957 43

Gallup Men
Ceremonial
August 8-11
>5VER 500 INDIAN dancers in
\S traditional costume and paint are
expected to participate in the
36th Annual Inter-Tribal Indian Ceremonial
at Gallup, New Mexico, August
8-11. The colorful panorama of
Indian culture will include four evenings
of Indian dances in the light of
six huge campfires; three afternoons of
all-Indian sports, rodeo and field
events; and three morning parades.
In addition, the large Exhibit Hall
containing Indian arts and crafts, will
be open for the four days of the Ceremonial.
Several sessions of a Ceremonial
Seminar on Indian problems
also are planned.
Ceremonial officials believe 20 tribes
will be represented among the Indian
participants, including those from the
Pueblos of New Mexico and Arizona,
the Navajos and Apaches of the Southwest,
the Kiowas and Cheyennes of
Oklahoma, and the Yakimas of Washington.
All seats are reserved for all performances
and tickets can be obtained
before arrival at Gallup by writing to
the Ceremonial Ticket Office, P. O.
Box 1029 Dept. D-7, Gallup, New
Mexico. Tickets also are on sale Ceremonial
Week at the Ceremonial Hogan
or Grandstand box office.
Gallup has 10 hotels and 36 motels,
and rooms will be made available in
private homes and dormitory facilities
are set up in public buildings to handle
the Ceremonial crowds. The Ceremonial
Housing Committee, same address
as above, handles room reservations.
Many campgrounds are located in the
Gallup vicinity.
The local Boy Scout organization
has made arrangements to provide
older Scouts and Scout leaders to guide
individuals on tours through the area.
Of added interest to this year's Ceremonial
will be the visits to the site of
the $9,000,000 American Indian Memorial,
six miles east of the city. First
ground recently was broken on the
project.
Photographers are reminded that
special permits are needed in order to
take pictures at the Ceremonial.
A Zuni Turkey Dancer. The Zuni
Pueblo is only a jew miles south of
Gallup.